Wizards’ Montrezl Harrell sounds off on Drake beef: ‘I don’t need Toronto on my bumper’

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Even though he ducked out during halftime and never returned to his courtside seats, Drake might have been one of the most effective Raptors players not in uniform as Toronto fell 98-83 to the Washington Wizards .

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Late in the first half, with Washington handily blowing out the Raps in their first home game at Scotiabank Arena since Feb. 28, 2020, Drake got into a spat with Wizards forward Montrezl Harrell. It was unclear what led to the dispute, but Harrell was given a technical foul with Fred VanVleet sinking a free throw.

After the game, Harrell said there was no bad blood between the pair and instead pointed the finger at one of the Raptors’ coaches.

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“Let’s go and clear that right now. Hey look, I need my money back first, NBA. I definitely need my money back because that definitely shouldn’t have been no tech. If so, you’ve gotta give to me and the coach,” Harrell told reporters , angrily referring to the $2,000 fine he was assessed.

“Me and Drake was laughing. There was no problems there. We even talked after the game. It was a cool conversation, but it turned left when the coach started chiming in behind the bench, thinking that barking is something that’s gonna shake me. It’s all good. I don’t need all of Toronto on my bumper now … Don’t get on my Instagram now. Me and Drake are cool, y’all.”

Wizards all-star Bradley Beal, who scored 23 of the team’s 98 points, weighed in on the hometown crowd backing Drake during following the altercation.

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“They’re holding the border up,” Beal joked.

Drake’s courtside shenanigans are notorious around the league. In 2019, during the team’s playoff run, he earned the ire of Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer after he gave Raptors’ coach Nick Nurse a back rub in the middle of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

“There’s certainly no place for fans and, you know, whatever it is exactly that Drake is for the Toronto Raptors … to be on the court,” Budenholzer said.

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Drake has also sparred with a number of players, including Paul Pierce, who roasted the rapper after Washington swept the fourth-seeded Raptors during the first-round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs. Playing off the title of one of the Grammy winner’s albums, Pierce shared a photo of Drake in a Wizards uniform with the caption, “If you’re reading this, the Wizards just swept.”

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The NBA reportedly also issued a warning to the rapper after he got into a spat with Cleveland Cavaliers centre Kendrick Perkins  during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2018. The global ambassador for the Raptors reportedly called Perkins a “f—ing p—-” as the two continued to exchange words after the game.

Drake disputed the harsh language saying he told Perkins, “I like the hem on his capris.”

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In 2018 after the team held its annual Drake Night to honour the star, the hometown rapper tried to rattle then-Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant.

“I don’t give a damn about no damn Drake Night,” the former MVP said post-game .

During the 2019 Finals, Drake also got into it with the Warriors’ Draymond Green during the team’s Game 1 win over Golden State. But the pair grabbed dinner afterwards with Green saying the two were simply “talking s—.”

“We live in a soft-ass world to where everything is a problem, and everything is a major issue,” Green said downplaying the incident.

After the club played all home games last season in Tampa because of COVID-19 restrictions in Canada, the Raptors return to action at Scotiabank Saturday night against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.

mdaniell@postmedia.com