It's good to be a Toronto Raptors fan nowadays. The team has four-consecutive playoff appearances to date and has an exciting roster core heading into the 2017-18 season consisting of a pair of three-time All-Stars in forward DeMar DeRozan and recently re-signed point guard Kyle Lowry, as well as three-time NBA All-Defensive First Team member, Serge Ibaka.
And yet, the trio of DeRozan, Lowry, and Ibaka may not exactly be the Raptors' biggest draw. Enter Aubrey Drake Graham.
As a native of Toronto, the multi-platinum recording artist more commonly referred to simply as Drake has become the Raptors' most avid and visible celebrity fan; so much so that the team anointed the 30-year-old rapper with the title of “Global Ambassador” back in 2013.
While the tasks and responsibilities of being a Global Ambassador are vague at best, Drake's mere presence as a figurehead of sorts for the entire Raptors franchise is a huge win in and of itself. October's (and Toronto's) Very Own‘s mass appeal transcends more than what the normal NBA superstar could, as he's capable of bridging the gap between basketball and the wide world of popular entertainment.
As time wore on, though, Drake would test the limits of his entitlement as the self-proclaimed No. 1 Raptors fan. He has left quite a carbon footprint on today's NBA landscape arguably more so than the dinosaurs of The North, as he's now more frequently seen courtside at NBA games not involving his beloved Raptors. In fact, he's made cameos in multiple All-Star Weekends – even serving as last year's coach for Team Canada at the All-Star Celebrity Game – and also had the honor of hosting the inaugural NBA Awards Show just this past June.
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And when Drizzy's not cheering for his favorite team on the sidelines of the Air Canada Centre, he's also rubbing elbows on the road not just with his peers from the music industry, but also with various players, upper-management bigwigs, and even courtside reporters. If that wasn't enough, Drake also branched out his presence onto the collegiate side of the basketball realm, further muddling his supposed allegiance to the Raptors.
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With all his flip-flopping and brown-nosing, Drake has since been tagged by the masses as the biggest bandwagon fan on the planet. No longer is he a mere Global Ambassador for the Raptors, he's now the constant subject of ridicule as a fairweather supporter of any and all NBA teams.
Despite all the flack he's received as a bandwagoner, Drake remains unwavered by the criticisms of his polarizing actions. Well, that's the perk of having “dreams money can buy” for a guy who has bajillions of dollars at his disposal with a massive ego to boot. And while it's clear that Drake is having the time of his life regardless of his tarnished reputation as a “die-hard Raptors fan”, the biggest winner out of all his peculiar deeds is actually the NBA itself.
Compared to the the MLB and the NFL, the NBA goes all-out to deliver its brand on a global scale by holding numerous events outside of the United States. The league's teams and players are deeply involved in these worldwide promotional campaigns just as well, especially with a good number of those players hailing from all six continents.
Then there's Drake: a half-Jew, half-African-American Canuck whose popular appeal reaches far beyond North American soil with his hits being heard and played worldwide, even by those who don't normally follow the NBA. So when there's buzz surrounding him and his latest basketball-related endeavor, the league is basically getting worldwide advertising out of him just as well.
Drake's diversity also goes beyond his music and his unique ethnicity. His passion for basketball is just as intense as any die-hard fan out there to the point that his devotion for the Raptors has blossomed into an overall appreciation of the NBA as a whole. He can easily share a laugh with Kobe Bryant on the sidelines in the wake of a Raptors loss to the Lakers even after he had provoked the Black Mamba's wife with a diss on one of his tracks.
It's this sort of dichotomy that makes Drake such a magnetic off-court personality, whether he's in the right or wrong side of other people's perceptions. There's no denying that he represents The North, but his ties to the players and the other teams in the league shouldn't be taken as attempts to ride the next big wave in the NBA.
Drizzy might consider the Big Mac as his favorite meal of all-time, but that doesn't mean that he can't have a few Whoppers or nine-piece buckets of the Colonel's finest every now and then, either. For Drake, being a true basketball fan is about variety and savoring every bit of goodness that the NBA and the sport as a whole have to offer. He'll share the same amount of joy from DeMar DeRozan's most recent game-winner as much as Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s latest feat of athleticism, and yet he'll quickly be pegged as a Milwaukee Bucks bandwagoner just because he gave some mad props to the Greek Freak.
Celebrities are always put under a different light in the media since they're often heralded as models of success. Hence, every action made public by Drake is taken as a reflection of the man himself, and that's where his appreciation for teams other than the Raptors come into focus.
If Drake wasn't a worldwide phenomenon as he is now, would the masses be as critical of him for cheering for the other teams? And to compare with a similarly famous rap artist: Snoop Dogg‘s a native of Long Beach and a renowned advocate of the Lakeshow, and yet he doesn't receive as much heat for being a vocal Pittsburgh Steelers fan. How is that fair?
If there's one thing that Drake can be held accountable for, though, it's that he makes appearances in any and all basketball games just for publicity. But isn't it also comforting to know that he's only doing it for the money and not really leaving Toronto's side once and for all? Regular Joes don't have a problem expressing their awe for teams and players outside of their own favorite team, so why can't Aubrey be entitled to that same level of appreciation?
It's about time that fans “find their love” for the game of basketball and not just the teams they want to represent. The NBA wouldn't be in its lofty position amongst the major North American sports if not for the sheer diversity it brings to the table, and it's actually Drake who embodies that diversity like no other.
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