Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seems to be taking LeBron James‘ spot — but not on the court.
During the three-day Twenty Years of Wireless festival in London, England, Canadian rapper Drake — who is the headliner each night — revealed a big change to his skin art.
Drake previously had a tattoo of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar’s St. Vincent/St. Mary’s jersey on the outside of his left arm with the No. 23. The Toronto-born rapper replaced James’ art with Gilgeous-Alexander’s No. 2 and “Thunder” arched above.
Gilegous-Alexander, the 2024-25 NBA MVP and NBA Finals MVP, is also a Toronto native.
In March, the Thunder guard was featured in Drake’s “NOKIA” music video with multiple colorways of his signature Converse sneaker around his neck.
Drake’s tension for James seems to be rising since the release of his newly released single “What Did I Miss?” where the rapper seems to call out James for attending Kendrick Lamar’s “The Pop Out: Ken & Friends” concert on Juneteenth in 2024, following a nine-diss-track feud between Lamar and Drake.
“I saw bro went to Pop Out with them,” Drake rapped in the single.
The rapper also released a single in January entitled “Fighting Irish Freestyle,” which seemed to be a shot at the Lakers forward.
“The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets,” Drake rapped, seemingly referring to James and Sacramento Kings forward DeMar DeRozan — who starred in Lamar’s “Not Like Us” music video — being present at Lamar’s concert.
Drake also changed the lyrics to his song “Nonstop” from the hit record “Scorpion” during a performance in Perth in February, where he rapped, “How I go from six to 23 but not LeBron, man.” The original lyrics read: “How I go from six to 23 like I’m LeBron?”
Gilgeous-Alexander is coming off a season where he led the Thunder to their first NBA championship after defeating the Indiana Pacers in seven games. He averaged a league-high 32.7 points, five rebounds and 6.4 assists in the 2024-25 season.
James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists for the Lakers.