Those waiting to hear if Drake would be involved in NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto beyond his presence courtside and at several clubs (I’m sure) got their answer Thursday. Heartbreak Drake will be taking time out of his Valentine’s Day weekend to coach the Canadian team for Friday night’s NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.
The game is being touted as Canada vs. USA, and Drake will be joined by Steve Nash and Jose Bautista on the sidelines. Opposite them will be Kevin Hart, a four-time Celebrity Game MVP making the transition to coaching.
Here’s how the rosters shake down so far, per a release from the NBA, though surprises are still expected.
Canada
Stephen James
Win Butler (yes!)
Drew and Jonathan Scott (the Property Brothers)
Milos Raonic
Kris Wu
Rick Fox (!!)
Natalie Achonwa
Tracy McGrady (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
USA
Michael B. Jordan
Jason Sudeikis
Anthony Anderson (Hang Time 4 Lyfe)
Nick Cannon
Bryshere Gray
Muggsy Bogues (!!!)
Marc Lasry
Elena Delle Donne
Chauncey Billups (that hardly seems fair)
The game tips off at 7 p.m. on ESPN/TSN/Sportsnet One from Ricoh Coliseum on the Friday and will be the 12th installment of the event.
Now, the real topic of this post…
Can we PLEASE get The Starters in this game? Four of six on the crew are Canadian, the entire production was born and existed in Toronto for a long time, they’re all over NBA TV, they’re great ambassadors for the game, and their genuinely great dudes, too. Considering Monday marks their 10th anniversary and the All-Star Game is in the show’s hometown, there has to be a place for them, right? You could even put Skeets and Tas on the Canadian side and Trey on the USA side (sorry Leigh, I have no idea where you’d land in this scenario) to balance things out.
The guys can also ball – they participated in the annual Raptors Republic tournament a few years back – and it would be a really nice nod to their contributions to the social and entertainment side of things to get them in there.
So, it’s not an official vote or anything, but send a tweet with the hashtags #TheStarters and #NBACelebrityVote to show your support.
