Drake is at the top of his game, but he can’t stay out of these sports conversations.
The Toronto Raptors
Drake was named the “global ambassador” for Toronto’s basketball team, the Raptors, in September, 2013. The responsibilities for this loosely defined role include helping to “spread the gospel” of Toronto basketball, celebrating "Drake night," making Raptors T-shirts cool, and taking shots at Jay Z and the Brooklyn Nets. Talking on Canadian sports channel TSN during a April 19 matchup between the Raptors and the Nets — which, just saying, the Nets won — Drake called the Raptors a team of the people, and said "Jay Z is somewhere eating a fondue plate."
At the Raptors' April 22 playoff game, Drake was courtside, conspicuously lint rolling his pants.
"Lint rollers on deck," he joked on Instagram after getting called out.
University of Kentucky basketball
Drake gave the Kentucky Wildcats a post-game speech after a big Final Four tournament win in April. That day a reporter asked him how long he'd been a Kentucky fan, and he replied, "Always."
He wasn't being insincere — Drake's ties to Kentucky run weirdly deep. Drake helped coach Kentucky’s 2012 alumni game, then received an honorary championship ring from the school. Later, he narrated a documentary about the team. He even took a picture with top Kentucky recruit Julius Randle's mom, even though Randle likes Jay Z better.
These days, Kentucky is known for recruiting players, like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, who spend just one year playing college ball then go to the NBA. It's been said that Wildcats coach John Calipari, who attended Drake's delayed 2013 high school graduation, uses Drake and Jay Z as recruiting tools to bring in players.