One verse from Iceman immediately grabbed the attention of both NBA fans and hip-hop listeners. On “1AM in Albany,” Drake rapped: “I shouldn’t even be shocked to see you in that arena, because you always made your career off of switching teams up. Please stop asking what’s going on with 23 and me, I’m a real n****, and he’s not, it’s in my DNA.”

Drake never directly named LeBron, but the references were unmistakable. Beyond the “23 and me” wordplay tied to James’ jersey number, the “switching teams” line carried a noticeably colder tone than fans were used to hearing from Drake when discussing the four-time NBA champion.

The lyric also appeared to tap into one of the biggest talking points of LeBron’s career. From leaving Cleveland for Miami in 2010, to returning to the Cavaliers in 2014, and later joining the Lakers in 2018, LeBron’s free-agency moves have long been tied to debates around loyalty, power, and championship chasing. Drake seems to flip that basketball narrative into a personal one here, implying that LeBron switched sides publicly once Kendrick Lamar gained momentum in the feud.

At the same time, the Canadian rapper doubled down on his appreciation for Stephen Curry, name-dropping the Warriors icon while Ayesha Curry publicly celebrated the release online. Online reactions, too, treated the track as one of the sharpest escalations yet in the Drake-LeBron fallout.

The fallout between Drake and LeBron has been building for nearly two years now. After LeBron attended Kendrick Lamar’s “Pop Out” concert in Los Angeles and rapped along to “Not Like Us,” fans immediately noticed the shift. Drake later unfollowed LeBron on Instagram and eventually covered his famous LeBron tattoo with an image of fellow Canadian superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

That tattoo change carried extra weight because Drake and LeBron once shared one of the closest relationships between an NBA superstar and a rapper. LeBron had supported Drake dating back to the So Far Gone era, appeared at concerts, promoted his music online, and even walked him out on stage during the “It’s All a Blur” tour in Los Angeles in 2023. Drake himself once called LeBron “my brother” during that show and thanked him for supporting his career “when nobody believed” in him.

The tension only escalated when LeBron appeared alongside Pusha T in the video for Tyler, The Creator’s “Stop Playing With Me.” Considering Pusha T remains Drake’s most personal rap rival, many fans viewed the appearance as the final confirmation that their longtime friendship had fractured for good.

Fans also revisited Kendrick Lamar’s “Meet the Grahams” during the fallout, particularly the line: “LeBron, keep the family away.” While Kendrick never explained the reference publicly, the lyric fueled speculation online that LeBron had quietly become part of the larger feud much earlier than people initially realized.

While Drake used Iceman to target LeBron, he also used the album to reinforce his longtime connection with Stephen Curry.

On the track, Drake raps: “Back when they was askin’ bout where Davison was at, now everybody got a blue 30 on they back,” referencing Curry’s rise from Davidson College to becoming one of basketball’s defining figures.

The shoutout was not random. Drake has publicly supported Curry for years, famously referencing him on “0 to 100 / The Catch Up” with the line, “Steph Curry with the shot, boy.” Unlike LeBron, Curry never publicly distanced himself from Drake during the Kendrick Lamar feud.

The divide became especially noticeable during the 2024 Paris Olympics, when Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” became a soundtrack around Team USA. While LeBron openly celebrated the song, Curry admitted he eventually got tired of hearing it everywhere.

“This is not the only song in America,” Curry said at the time, a comment many fans interpreted as subtle support for Drake amid the nonstop Kendrick wave.

Drake’s bond with the Curry family extends beyond basketball. The rapper has Curry’s No. 30 tattooed with a halo, while Ayesha Curry’s Toronto-area roots have long connected the families culturally as well. That loyalty is one reason Steph never publicly switched sides during the feud.

Ayesha Curry also publicly supported the rollout by reposting Drake’s “ICE MAN MAY 15” announcement on Instagram. She added the message: “Whose watching? We are. Whose listening? We are! Congratulations.”

Fans quickly noticed the wording. By repeatedly using “we,” Ayesha appeared to signal that the Curry household was fully supporting Drake’s latest release during a moment when much of the NBA world remains divided between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

In many ways, Curry’s stance has become the direct contrast to LeBron’s. While Drake now frames LeBron as someone who “switches teams,” Curry has quietly built a reputation as the NBA superstar who never publicly abandoned him, even at the peak of Kendrick Lamar’s cultural momentum.

LeBron James remains silent as other NBA stars campaign for Drake

After the July drama, Bron appeared on Speedy Morman’s show in September and spoke candidly about his old friend. “Y’all cool? What’s the status there? Is this someone you always have love for?” Morman asked curiously. “Always, always wish him the best,” LeBron James admitted. “Obviously, different places right now, currently he’s doing his thing, I’m doing mine, but it’s always love for sure.” Even after publicly saying he would “always” have love for Drake, LeBron has remained silent about Iceman and the latest round of lyrics directed toward him. While he remains silent, the other NBA stars have also aligned with the Canadian star.

Former teammate of LeBron, Kyrie Irving, was on his Twitch stream and celebrated the new drop. “He transcended so many haters that were telling him he couldn’t amount to sh*t and he ended up doing some legendary sh*t that won’t be topped.”

Similarly, former Hawks guard and current Wizards star Trae Young tweeted, “Nahhhhh. It’s officially time 🐐Drake. 🫡.”

The reaction around the album also reflects the pressure surrounding this stage of Drake’s career. Entering the Iceman rollout, many fans viewed him as coming off the first major public loss of his career after Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” dominated both music and pop culture. That is part of why the LeBron references landed so heavily online. To many listeners, they did not feel like random celebrity bars. They felt like Drake addressing public betrayal, cultural isolation, and the people he believed stopped standing beside him once the tide shifted.

The Drake-LeBron friendship once represented one of the strongest connections between hip-hop and the NBA. Now, Iceman has turned that relationship into one of the coldest storylines in sports culture.

As Drake continues leaning into a more isolated and confrontational era, the contrast inside the NBA has become impossible to ignore. LeBron publicly embraced Kendrick Lamar’s side of the feud, while Stephen and Ayesha Curry quietly emerged as the basketball family that never left Drake’s corner.