NBA said it would drop fine against Toronto if it dropped Drake. Raptors refused.

The NBA fined the Toronto Raptors $25,000 because rapper Drake — the official “Global Brand Ambassador” of the Raptors even though he draws no salary from the team — said at a concert in Toronto that Kevin Durant attended that if KD came and played for the Raptors this is what it would sound like (and on cue the crowd went nuts).

By the letter of the law that’s tampering. By the spirit of the law far worse things happen as teams try to recruit players (the Wizards hire Durant’s old high school coach, for one example). However the NBA league office is filled with lawyers from the top seat on down and they are big on the letter of the law, so the Raptors got fined about the cost of on Drake gold chain.

However, the league gave the Raptors an out — drop Drake. That according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.

They also refused to address a key detail — that the NBA offered to drop the tampering fine if the team agreed to strip Drake of his title. The Raptors apparently refused.

Good for the Raptors, this was a slap on the wrist and anyone making more of it is overanalyzing the mole hill. Obviously part of why Drake is associated with the Raptors is to recruit players, just not so obviously. The league is a stickler on the tampering stuff to the point of being ridiculous, but everyone around the league knows it. Nobody takes the Drake fine seriously.

The tone of the rest of the article has a very cheesy #hotsportstake quality to it that comes off as “The NBA league office hates Drake, they keep picking on his poor Raptors, nobody wants us to succeed, woe is us, but we will stand up for what we believe.” Whatever. If that sells papers good for you, but the NBA had Jay-Z as an owner and loves Drake promoting the game. The league doesn’t hate you, heck you got an All-Star Game coming. If your GM gets fined for saying “f**** Brooklyn” at a playoff rally that’s not the league coming down on you, it’s because that was a poor decision by your GM. In fact this same writer would have flipped if Billy King said that about those poor, picked-on Raptors.

Move on Toronto. You have a genuinely good team that could well win about 50 games and finish top four again in the East. A team that could win a playoff round. A team with good young players that is entertaining to watch. Savor this, you’re in a good position. A lot of franchises would love to trade positions with you.