Kevin Durant ‘Don’t Give a Damn’ About ‘Drake Night’ in Toronto

Ah yes, the annual Toronto tradition known as Drake Night, where The Six’s favorite son shows up to a Raptors game and gets to be the most enthusiastic or obnoxious (take your pick) fan in the building. It’s sort of like when Spike Lee used to troll Reggie Miller and the Pacers at Madison Square Garden, except the Raptors aren’t the New York Knicks of the 1990s with Patrick Ewing and John Starks fighting through the playoffs. No, we’re still in the first full month of NBA play. Drake Night is just that magical eveing when Toronto’s favorite son can walk into a basketball game and he’s the show, not so much the team that’s playing. 

It’s both weird and sort of funny at the same time, and Drake, decked out in a sweatshirt with Doris Burke’s face on it, seems to take it very seriously. So much so, in fact, that he basically becomes the team’s 13th man, running up and down the sidelines and doing things like staring down his “friend” Kevin Durant. 

Another DeMar J. @drake staredown. Raps up 7. #DrakeNight #RTZ https://t.co/WLcU1cj7Sg

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) November 17, 2016

Of course, Durant and the Golden State Warriors would have the last laugh at Air Canada Centre. Durant would drown 30 points, Stephen Curry would score a game-high 35 and the Warriors would go on to beat the Raptors 127-121 before an amped Drake would bump into Durant in the middle of a post-game speech, and endure one hell of a wicked stare down.