One day after he was called out by the NBA commissioner for crossing the line with his courtside antics, Drake has an unlikely defender.
Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green 鈥� who Drake following the Raptors Game 1 victory 鈥� said the Toronto-born rapper and Raptors global ambassador shouldn鈥檛 be held to the same standard as other fans.
鈥淪o many people have complained about it, like, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 let any other fans do that.鈥� Yeah, any other fan (is) just not Drake,鈥� Green told a press conference on Friday.
鈥淗e鈥檚 worked his ass off to be who he is, and when you do that 鈥� I think we all know when you do that, you get more leash than others 鈥� But, I don鈥檛 mind it. It鈥檚 fun for me.鈥�
Green鈥檚 comments may come as a bit of a surprise, considering what happened after his team lost to the Raptors 118-109 on Thursday night. In a video that has been viewed millions of times on Twitter, Drake appears to lock eyes with Green as he walks off the court, smile sarcastically and shout the word 鈥渢rash鈥� in his direction.
Asked about the courtside scuffle by a reporter, Green downplayed the incident.
"You got a question about basketball? It wasn't really a scuffle, because I didn't hit him and he didn't hit me," he said.
THE LINT-CIDENT
But Green wasn鈥檛 the prime target of the rapper鈥檚 ribbing. Drake showed up to the game wearing a signed No. 30 jersey from Dell Curry, the father of Golden State star Steph Curry. Dell Curry ended his NBA career in 2002 after three seasons with the Raptors.
Dell Curry attended Thursday鈥檚 game in Toronto and appeared to laugh when he noticed Drake鈥檚 outfit.
In what will likely go down as one of Drake鈥檚 sassiest moves of the season, he appeared to pick a piece of lint out of Steph Curry鈥檚 hair during a brief interaction on the court. He later posted an ad on eBay selling the lint. (The eBay post has since been taken down, but )
Drake apparently has a thing about lint. Back in 2014, cameras caught him using a lint roller to clean his pants during a Toronto game against the Brooklyn Nets. The team later gave more than 1,000 lint rollers at a game 鈥� one of which was resold for $55,000.
For what it鈥檚 worth, Drake and Curry have a longstanding friendship. Drake has given Curry several shout-outs on tracks, including 鈥淪ummer Sixteen鈥� and 鈥�0-100/The Catch-up,鈥� and the pair have even played basketball at Drake鈥檚 house.
TATTOOS? WHAT TATTOOS?
But wait, that鈥檚 not all. In a subtler dig, Drake wore an armband during Thursday鈥檚 game to cover two tattoos: one of No. 30, another of No. 35, dedicated to Curry and his Golden State teammate, Kevin Durant.
Drake鈥檚 latest trolling happened just hours after NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that the league office 鈥渉ad conversations directly with Drake and his manager鈥� about his behaviour.
Specifically, Silver raised concerns about a brief shoulder massage the rapper gave to Raptors coach Nick Nurse in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final.
"When you're in the middle of coaching a game and you're completely focused, you obviously don't want somebody who's not on your team touching you," he said.
But if Game 1 is any indication, Drake doesn鈥檛 seem too interested in toning things down for the NBA Finals.
