Drake is the Toronto Raptors global ambassador and an avid basketball fan. Of course, he had the hilarious moment when he hooped with the Kentucky Men’s basketball team for a day but he’s also been spotted at some big events. He hosted the ESPY’s and the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto. He’s even been spotted at his courtside seats hitting on Doris Burke and involving himself in some on-court action from time to time.
But the successful rapper, actor, and entertainer will also be lending his services to the NBA in another role. He revealed that he will be hosting the first annual NBA awards show. The event will air June 26th on TNT and the NBA’s major awards like MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player and Rookie of the Year will be handed out all at once as opposed to the old method.
The 6ix God recently talked broke the news about producing the award show as a guest on the John Calipari ‘Cal Cast’ podcast. At about the 30:55 mark of the pod, Drake talks about the role he will have with the award show.
“I’m actually producing and hosting the first annual NBA Awards this year. I get to take the reigns on it.
“The ESPYs let me do great things, and I thank them a lot for that. Usually, award shows sometimes are a bit restricted. But they let me do a lot at the ESPYs, so we’ll just expand on that concept.
“I love hosting. I love being in a room full of iconic, legendary people that I look up to and having that pressure of having to make them laugh and enjoy their evening.”
Drake also touched on music, the love he has for sports and how he views Coach Cal as a mentor.
“What I love about sports is…that there’s a clear-cut winner,” Drake told Calipari. “In music sometimes it gets frustrating. You can try your hardest, you can do your best, you can have the most incredible year, but in our sport of music, there is no clear-cut winner. It is all opinion-based; there is no score, no trophy at the end of the year. There’s something about the competitor in me — it bothers me that there’s no trophy to hoist at the end of the year.”
“Drake is one of the most talented entertainers on the planet,” said Calipari. “More importantly, though, he’s a great person and someone I’m honored to call my friend. He revealed a lot about himself and his future projects during our conversation that I know everyone is going to want to hear.”
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Check out the pod below.
