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Canadian singer and rapper Drake has slam dunked again. The musician-producer mogul is partnering with the NBA to release an ‘exclusive capsule collection celebrating six iconic World Champion franchises.’ The six NBA franchises that have been chosen to collaborate with Drake’s October’s Very Own (OVO) clothing brand are the Toronto Raptors, LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and New York Knicks.
The products from the partnership will be part of OVO’s upcoming fall and winter collection. The collection drops on September 29, three weeks before the start of the 2021-22 NBA season. Rappers Bobby Shmurda and Chief Keef were revealed as the faces of the campaign, with Keef wearing a Chicago Bulls-themed jacket while Shmurda donned a Knicks cap.
NBA has history of collaborating with artists and musicians
Drake’s latest venture with the NBA isn’t an isolated event. In 2016, the NBA came out with several t-shirts partnering with American DJ and record producer, DJ Khaled. Then in 2020, Khaled struck another collaboration with the NBA’s Miami Heat franchise, where a jersey featuring a redesigned Miami Heat logo was released as part of the collaboration.
Drake himself, more recently, allegedly collaborated with Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo for his Certified Lover Boy (CLB) merchandise. Both Drake and Giannis are also sponsored by Nike.
Drake, a Toronto Raptors superfan, also had the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard feature in his new music video Way 2 Sexy (featuring Future and Young Thug) as part of his newly-released album, also called Certified Lover Boy. Leonard, a two-time NBA champion, appears for about thirty seconds in the video where he is dressed in all white alongside Drake, Future and Young Thug.
Drake has mostly been seen by NBA fans at Toronto Raptors home games, cheering the team on from the sidelines. He was a constant presence for Toronto during their championship run in 2019, which also featured Leonard. The Raptors beat the Orlando Magic, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Bucks and the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs to win the 2019 NBA Finals. Leonard won his second Finals MVP (first for the 2014 Finals) in that series, which gave Toronto its first NBA championship in franchise history.
Ironically, as Toronto beat Milwaukee in six games in the 2019 Conference Finals, Drake could be seen trash-talking Antetokounmpo - with whom he forged the recent CLB merch partnership - in all Toronto home games.
Guess the Lakers players!
