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Fans React to Drake’s Apparent Diss of Lakers’ LeBron James in New Song

The 20-time All-Star forward has come under fire from the multi-platinum hip hop superstar.

Alex Kirschenbaum

Jan 2, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson (00) defends Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Jan 2, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Scoot Henderson (00) defends Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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20-time All-Star Los Angeles Lakers power forward has come under fire from multi-platinum hip hop superstar Drake recently.

James was seen singing along to Drake rival Kendrick Lamar's smash hit, "Not Like Us," at a club over the summer. Apparently, this so irked Drake that he may have shaded the four-time league MVP in a fresh freestyle track, dubbed "Fighting Irish."

Here are the quoted lyrics given as examples of Drake's attack:

"The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets/Seemed like they loved every minutes, just know this s--- is personal to us, and it wasn't just business/And [people] cried the blues for you, saying it wasn't malicious/Talkin' 'bout we family, well, I'm not the cousin to visit/God forbid we ever got to tarnish your public image/All that brother talk as if I really discovered a sibling/Six degrees, my memory's retrievin' our humble beginnings"

It's not completely clear exactly whom is being addressed by Drake in these lyrics, but there has been online speculation that James is Drake's target.

In reaction to these lyrics, many fans are understandably skeptical that they are in fact James-focused. One fan speculates that the 40-year-old NBA superstar is being called out for attending Lamar's pop-up Los Angeles show.

Another, far more skeptical fan had a hilarious perspective on the notion that these lyrics represented a pointedly anti-James diss track:

Given that the insults appear fairly coded, another NBA appreciator praised the standout lyricist (who, in fairness, doesn't always write his own lyrics) for his covert craftsmanship:

Another fan jokingly noted that an imaginary James collective, "the King's Court," would reprimand him publicly for his perceived transgressions.

Beneath at least this @LakeShowYo tweet, fans were fairly evenly divided between perceiving the insult as being directed at James specifically or being (understandably) dubious that there wasn't really enough evidence to indicate exactly who was the focus of Drake's ire.

Again, this was not even mildly a unique take.

Whether or not Drake has really fallen out with James, it doesn't seem to have drastically affected the league's oldest active player on the hardwood, at least in terms of health.

The four-time champ has ceded some scoring ground to co-stars Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves a bit this year, and has been a bit less consistent on offense. But he remains unquestionably an All-Star-caliber figure in the league, despite playing in a league-record 22nd season. Across 30 contests this season, James is averaging 23.9 points on .502/.382/.767 shooting splits, 8.9 assists and 7.6 rebounds.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Basketball is Alex's favorite sport, he likes the way they dribble up and down the court.

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