“Good luck with everything on the Guangdong Dragons……..I mean the Rockets.” Renowned Canadian rapper Drake may have certainly drawn some attention when he wrote this in his congratulatory send-off to Fred VanVleet. After spending 7 years with the Toronto Raptors, the point guard/shooting guard declined his player option. Instead, he signed with the Rockets. Being an NBA aficionado, Drake’s remarks would have been motivated by the fact that he stood solely behind his own home team. If Drake’s quote affected Houston Rockets fans even the slightest, then they would have rejoiced in light of recent events.

Recently, the Houston Rockets went up against the Toronto Raptors, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. Despite holding home-court advantage, the Raptors couldn’t gain an advantage over their rivals beyond the 1 quarter. The game was close, but the Houston Rockets eventually took the win by a 114-110 score. As the minutes concluded and the buzzer sounded, Rockets’ veteran announcer, Craig Ackerman, rejoiced and said “The Rockets are victorious tonight against the Guangdong Dragons”. Wow! It took more than a year, but the Houston Rockets were finally able to deliver the perfect comeback.

The win was special for Dillon Brooks and co. After all, it came after the Rockets had lost 6 of its previous 8 matchups against the Raptors. On top of that, the visiting team had to overcome a 16-point deficit to gain the lead. Therefore, this was no normal victory. The game highlighted how far the Rockets squad can go when they are determined to win.

To clarify, the Guangdong Dragons are not a real NBA team. In fact, they are not even a real basketball team! Through his remark, Drake may have meant referencing the Guangdong Southern Tigers, which represents the Chinese Basketball Association. Though there is a possibility that the slight may have been intentional.

Therefore, the rapper’s remarks may have implied that the Rockets are not good enough to play in the NBA. After all, during the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the Rockets had ended the regular season on the 14, and the 11 seed, respectively. Now, however, the times have changed. The Raptors currently hold the 3 worst record out of all other franchises. Meanwhile, Fred VanVleet and his teammates have won 19-9 games. This allows them to occupy the 3 seed on the Western Conference Points chart. Therefore, if Craig Ackerman called the Raptors ‘Guangdong Dragons’, he had a basis for doing so.

Drake’s remarks were, in no way, a criticism of Fred VanVleet. The player knew this as well, which is probably why all he wrote was “Relax” in response. While the mutual connection of the Toronto Raptors was erased after VanVleet’s exit, he and Drake may still continue to hold some respect for each other. Despite this, the player decided to go against the rapper when another former Toronto Raptors athlete emerged in the limelight.

Despite Drake’s remarks, Fred VanVleet believes that DeMar DeRozan deserves a jersey retirement in Toronto

Drake had occupied the news cycle, for the major part of the year, over his feud with Kendrick Lamar. The latter’s diss track, ‘Not Like Us’ took a shot at the Canadian Rapper. It also making references to a few NBA players, with DeMar DeRozan amongst them. One verse had Lamar expressing his happiness that the DeRozan left the Raptors, since they didn’t “deserve” him. Later, Demar DeRozan was seen dancing on Stage during Kendrick Lamar’s “The Pop Out” Concert. This reportedly caused a crack in the NBA star and Drake’s decade long friendship. In fact, even a few Raptors fans also reportedly turned against DeRozan. This raised the question of whether the team would retire his jersey, when the time came. Despite being a former Toronto Raptors player himself, Fred VanVleet stood by DeRozan.

“Yeah, I think it should. I think it should” said VanVleet when discussing the potential jersey retirement. “I think that when you look at what he did, you know, especially when you want to give the history of the franchise and what Vince and all of those guys meant at the beginning and what that meant for Canadian basketball. Because that’s what a lot of people don’t understand is how much impact the team and the franchise has on the country. So, we saw the impact that Vince had and then we saw it again with DeMar. He didn’t lead the team to the title, but he ultimately, he built that foundation and laid that foundation.”

The remarks by VanVleet came a few days after Drake himself voiced his opinion on the potential jersey retirement. Speaking to TSN broadcast, the rapper stated “If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself”. While that would certainly be an entertaining sight, DeRozan being considered for a jersey retirement may not happen for at least another decade. Till then, things might simmer down between the former friends.