Sacramento Kings Owner Wears ‘They Not Like Us’ Shirt Amid Drake’s Feud With DeMar DeRozan
Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has come to his superstar DeMar DeRozan’s defense and he’s channeling Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” anthem, possibly to needle Drake.
Seated near former Raptor and No Limit boss Master P, Ranadive was courtside at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Wednesday night (Nov. 6) wearing a black T-shirt inscribed with “They Not Like Us” as his Kings took on Drizzy’s Toronto Raptors.
Fans liked seeing the Kings owner stand up to Drake and defend DeRozan, who previously played for Toronto. Sacramento ended up throttling the Raptors 122-107 to improve to 5-3 on the young season.
“This level of petty >>>,” one fan tweeted, while another called Vivek the “goat.”
For context, the Kings took on the Raptors over the weekend of Nov. 2 in Toronto, where Drake joined the TV broadcast and called DeRozan a “goof.”
On the same night, Vince Carter’s No. 15 went into the rafters, the 6 God — who is an official ambassador of the Raptors — trashed the idea of the franchise retiring DeRozan’s No. 10 one day. “If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself,” Drake said during the broadcast.
DeMar was asked about Drake’s comments in his post-game presser, which he brushed off. “He’s going to have a long way to climb,” the athlete quipped. “Tell him good luck.”
DeRozan spent nine seasons with the Raptors and delivered a close friendship with Drake, but Drizzy appeared to feel a type of way about DeMar — a Compton native — seemingly siding with Kendrick Lamar during their feud. DeRozan also made a cameo in the “Not Like Us” music video.
Joe Budden chimed in on the DeRozan-Drake beef, and while he understood Drizzy’s feelings toward the NBA star for seemingly switching up on him, he doesn’t appreciate how he’s navigated the conflict.
“I’m not mad at [Drake] for feeling — he should feel that way,” he explained on a recent episode of his eponymous podcast. “It’s never the conflict. It’s the inability to navigate the conflict … But all that standing at the game … the mumbling under his breath … You a b—h. I’m not about to sit here and do a bunch of unpacking. You went to the game and cut his eyes.”
“Not Like Us” arrived in May and proved to be a decisive blow in the Drake-Kendrick feud, which Billboard declared K. Dot the winner.
The Mustard-produced anthem has continued to haunt Drake and be part of pop culture throughout 2024, as it broke the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart when it held firm for a 21st week at the apex in early October.
Drake has yet to respond to Vivek’s move, and he’ll have to wait until next year to see DeRozan again, as the Kings won’t make another trip to Toronto for the rest of the season.
Michael Saponara
Billboard
