DeMar DeRozan has spent just one season with the Sacramento Kings, but the franchise is standing by him after a viral jab from Drake.
During the Canadian rapper’s concert in Sydney, a fan tossed a DeRozan-era Toronto Raptors jersey onto the stage. Drake picked it up, glanced at it, then forcefully spiked it to the ground.
The Kings wasted no time clapping back. On Tuesday, they posted an edited version of the clip, replacing the Raptors jersey with DeRozan’s Kings jersey. In their version, the jersey hits a fan in the face, who then proudly takes it home.
The team captioned it, “The 916 loves Deebo,” highlighting the “6” with an emoji—both a nod to Toronto’s area codes (416 and 647) and a show of hometown pride for Sacramento (916).
DeRozan’s ties to Drake run deep. He spent nine seasons in Toronto, forming a close bond with the rapper. Alongside Kyle Lowry, the trio even graced the cover of Slam Magazine in June 2016 under the title 6 Gods.
But their dynamic shifted last summer. When Drake found himself locked in a rap battle with Kendrick Lamar, DeRozan made his allegiance clear. A fellow Compton native, he took the stage at Lamar’s The Pop Out: Ken & Friends concert on Juneteenth, dancing as Lamar performed “Not Like Us”—the Grammy-winning diss track aimed at Drake.
A few weeks later, he appeared in the song’s music video, which features the pointed lyric: “I’m glad DeRoz’ came home, y’all didn’t deserve him neither.”
Drake fired back in November during a Raptors broadcast, declaring that if the team ever retired DeRozan’s jersey, he’d personally take it down. DeRozan’s response? “He’s got a long way to climb. Tell him good luck.”
Whether their friendship rebounds remains to be seen, but DeRozan can count on Sacramento’s loyalty in this battle.
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