LeBron James Dances To Kendrick Lamar’s “TV Off” During Lakers Game Amid Ongoing Drake Tension

February 20, 2025 11:08am

LeBron James continues to fuel the fire that is his apparent friendship breakup with Drake. The 40-year-old hooper danced to Kendrick Lamar’s “TV Off” in the middle of a Los Angeles Lakers game this week.

On Wednesday evening, the LakeShow hosted the Charlotte Hornets in the first game after the All-Star break. The Lakers held an 88-85 lead with a little under five minutes left in the game when K. Dot’s latest banger began to play over the loudspeakers. The four-time NBA MVP danced a little bit and placed his hands around his mouth as if he was yelling the popular “MUSTAAAARD” line before focusing back in on the game. The Lakers ended up losing the game 100-97.

Beyond getting off to a rocky start in an important stretch of games preceding the playoffs, this was yet another moment where James showed enthusiasm for the Compton rapper. Earlier this month, he shared photos from the Lakers game against the New York Knicks and chose Lamar’s “Man At The Garden” as the audio for his post; notably, that is the same record he rapped with passion at his 40th birthday party in December 2024.

The beginning of the cold war between Drake and LeBron James was seemingly the latter’s appearance at The Pop Out in June, where Kendrick Lamar performed “Not Like Us” and other diss tracks from his battle against the 6 God the month prior. Later in the summer, footage surfaced of Steph Curry telling his Olympic teammates that he was getting tired of “Not Like Us,” but James countering and saying he loved it.

The Toronto superstar replied by posting photos of Curry, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker to congratulate them for winning gold at the Paris Olympics, but noticeably omitting his longtime friend. This past January, his track “Fighting Irish Freestyle” surfaced online and both the title and lyrics seemed to be aimed at LBJ. Fighting Irish is the mascot for St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School in Akron, Ohio, the school LeBron attended before joining the NBA.

“The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets/ Seemed like they loved every minute/ Just know this sh*t is personal to us, and it wasn’t just business/ Analyzin’ behavioral patterns, it’s somewhat suspicious,” he rapped, referring to both Bron and DeMar DeRozan attending The Pop Out.

“You would even check up on my son like a pediatrician/ Sure convinced the gang this sh*t was rooted in love when it isn’t,” Drake added. “Showed me how different we are, there’s blessings in juxtaposition/ I guess now you boys gotta abandon your summer tradition/ Cold shoulders I gave in the Hamptons, it come with the distance/ Figured we was always gon’ be close, like ovens and kitchens/ I was sadly mistaken, the loyalty wasn’t a given.”

Finally, in the second verse he raps “And ni**as cried the blues for you, sayin’ 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.”

In a recent performance on his Anita Max Win tour in Australia, the five-time Grammy winner changed the lyrics of “Nonstop” from “How I go from 6 to 23 like I’m LeBron?” to “How I go from 6 to 23, but not LeBron?”

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