Drake publicly displayed his frustration with former friend DeMar DeRozan during a February 2025 concert in Australia after a fan tossed the basketball star’s jersey onto the stage. The incident unfolded during Drake’s February 17 show in Sydney as part of his Anita Max Wynn Tour.
While performing “Rich Flex,” the rapper picked up a camouflage Toronto Raptors No. 10 jersey that had landed near him onstage. After unfolding it and noticing DeRozan’s name on the back, Drake immediately threw the jersey aside before continuing the performance. Clips of the moment recently resurfaced across social media, reigniting attention around the fractured relationship between the two prominent Toronto figures.
Drake and DeRozan were once closely connected during DeRozan’s nine-year run with the Toronto Raptors after the guard was drafted by the franchise in 2009. Drake, who serves as the team’s global ambassador, regularly supported DeRozan throughout his Raptors tenure. The pair also shared the cover of Slam Magazine in 2016.
Their friendship appeared to unravel after DeRozan publicly sided with fellow Compton native Kendrick Lamar during Lamar’s highly publicized feud with Drake in 2024. DeRozan later appeared in Lamar’s “Not Like Us” music video and attended Lamar’s Juneteenth Pop Out concert in Los Angeles, where the rapper performed the diss track live. Lamar also referenced DeRozan directly in the song.
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Drake intensified the tension during a Toronto Raptors broadcast in November 2024 while discussing the possibility of the franchise retiring DeMar DeRozan’s jersey number. “Unfortunately, we’re playing this goof tonight,” Drake said. “If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself.” DeRozan fired back after the game with a response of his own, saying, “He’s going to have a long way to climb. Tell him good luck.”
Drake Reheats His Feud With DeMar DeRozan On Surprise Album ‘Iceman’
The rivalry between the duo resurfaced again in May 2026 when Drake referenced DeMar DeRozan on the song “National Treasure” from his Iceman project. On the track, Drake revisited the Raptors’ 2018 decision to trade DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Kawhi Leonard, a move that helped Toronto win its first NBA championship in 2019.
“We must’ve been dealin’ the spur of the moment / Kawhi did we think you could get us a ring?” Drake rapped before adding, “G Pop sent us a real one from Daygo / And next thing you knew, we was throwing parades.”
The lyrics sparked widespread reaction online because Drake directly tied DeRozan’s departure to the Raptors’ championship success. The release also included apparent shots at LeBron James, another longtime Drake associate who publicly supported Kendrick Lamar during the height of the rap feud in 2024.
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Even amid the ongoing tension, several figures connected to the Raptors publicly supported Drake’s latest release after it dropped, including former teammate Kyle Lowry and the Raptors’ official social media accounts.
