If there were ever a coach primed and ready to be the face of what a “players’ coach” should look like, Toronto Raptors’ Darko Rajaković may have cemented his spot as a top candidate on Tuesday night.
After a tough 132–131 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, Rajaković completely unloaded on the officials for the free throw disparity between the two teams during his postgame presser and Raptors team ambassador and music mogul Drake was seemingly loving every minute of it.
“It’s outrageous. What happened tonight, this is completely b.s.,” Rajaković began. “This is shame. Shame for the referees. Shame for the league to allow this. Twenty-three free throws for them, and we get two free throws in the fourth quarter? Like, how to play the game? I understand respect for all-stars and all that, but we have stars on our team as well.”
This was just the start of the fiery response, with plenty more just below. But Drake took to social media to show some love in an Instagram story for a “real one” in Rajaković for putting it all on the table.
“Toronto has a real one as their coach, this guy is a GUYZER”
— BASKETBALL ON 𝕏 (@BasketballOnX) January 10, 2024
- Drake on IG story with a post of Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković post game comments pic.twitter.com/60hE6cj4IF
The Raptors coach proceeded to drop a line that sent social media into a frenzy, stating that if the Lakers had to win tonight, just to let his team know so they don’t show up for the game.
“They had to win tonight,” Rajaković continued in his rant. “If that’s the case, just let us know, so we don’t show up for the game. Just give them a win. But that was not fair tonight. And this is not happening first time for us.”
In case you missed it, here’s the full clip of Rajaković’s comments following the game.
Raptors HC Darko Rajakovic was heated in the postgame presser, unhappy with the Lakers 23 free throw attempts in the 4Q pic.twitter.com/1xvoXrUM6k
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 10, 2024
While we’re not here to make predictions on the NBA’s response to Rajaković’s criticism, popular NBA social media legend Rob Perez may have summed up the incredible rant best when he stated, “This is going to be one hell of a fine.”
