The NBA loves itself some J. Cole. The seven-time Grammy-nominated rapper frequently mixes in basketball references to his songs, whether about his own playing days as a teenager in North Carolina or name-dropping some of the game's biggest stars. Asked on Friday who was his favorite rapper during a takeover his team's Twitter account, Portland Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard answered simply and succinctly.

J. Cole has made himself a semi-regular at All-Star weekend, too, previously playing in the celebrity game and last Saturday assisting New York Knicks guard Dennis Smith, Jr. in one of the best efforts of a solid dunk contest. The rapper even got in on the action himself after Smith jumped over him and threw down a soaring, one-handed lob, grabbing the ball and attempting a two-footed dunk of his own that he couldn't quite put down.

Even that nationally-televised embarrassment – or what many perceived should qualify as such, at least – apparently didn't do anything to alter his standing as one of the most popular recording artists among NBA players.

As for Dame, the 6-foot-3 guard knows a thing or two about music. He records under the moniker D.A.M.E. D.O.L.L.A., popularizing #4barfriday several years ago and releasing his second studio album in the fall of 2017. Asked at the All-Star game if he hoped to collaborate with any rappers while in Charlotte, Lillard gave an unsurprising answer.

“I actually chopped it up with J. Cole a little bit when I first got here,” he told Randy Buffington of Cleveland 19. “We didn't talk about us doing nothing together, but we just talked a lot about music and conversation. That's something that I'd like to do in the future.”