"Drake paid his $500 fine": When Steph Curry and Draymond Green were docked by Steve Kerr because of hip-hop superstar
It's not often that a famous NBA coach fines a world-famous rapper, but that is what happened between Steve Kerr and Drake.
The coach of the Golden State Warriors once spoke with the media before a game at Toronto a couple of years ago and shared a story about an incident with Drake. It led to Kerr issuing a $500 fine to the rapper, along with Draymond Green and Steph Curry, for being late to a team plane.
As Steve Kerr explained, Drake was responsible for making Draymond Green and Steph Curry late for one of the team's flights. Kerr stated that the team had to fly to Los Angeles immediately after a home game at Oracle Arena. When they arrived at the airport, they found out that neither Stephen Curry nor Draymond Green were on the plane.
The team couldn't fly to LA without them. They started wondering what had happened and why they were late for the flight.
"Eric Housen, our travel man, called Steph to see what was going on. Steph said, ‘Oh, my fault, I’m with Drake and Draymond. We’re at the arena still. Sorry, we’re late.’ Drake got on the plane that night with Draymond and Steph, and I fined all three of them for being late. Drake paid his $500 fine. You can ask him that — true story."
Steve Kerr fined world-famous rapper Drake during a Warriors flight
Stephen Curry, in telling his side of the story after that game in Toronto, said that he and Draymond "were definitely late just chatting up with Drake."
Drake later referenced being on the Warriors team plane on his song, "Free Smoke," and referenced his relationship with Curry and Kevin Durant:
"I took the team plane from Oracle / Mama never used to cook much / Used to chef KD / Now me and Chef, KD / Bet on shots for 20 G's."
Prior to the 2019 NBA Finals, Drake attend games at the Oracle Arena to watch Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and the Warriors. Drake was close friends with the Warriors superstars and, as we said, even got to catch a team flight with the team. However, things didn't end up well for him, as he received a fine, as Steve Kerr hilariously told media.
Meanwhile, during the 2019 NBA Finals, Drake quickly became a villain around Warriors' fans. The Canadian pop star was courtside at all home games at ScotiaBank Arena to support the Toronto Raptors, who were facing the Warriors in the championship series. The Warriors weren’t able to quiet Drake in Toronto, dropping the 2019 Finals series to the Raptors and losing in six games (4-2).
Since then, Drake has remained a loyal Raptors fan, but Toronto has failed to have a deep playoff run and return to the NBA Finals. Meanwhile, Steve Kerr and the Warriors maitained their title status and went on to claim the 2022 NBA championship, having won the title four times over a nine-year period (2015, 2017, 2018, 2022).