Tyrese Haliburton Confesses His Secret Drake Motivation for Winning an NBA Championship

Tyrese Haliburton is as famous as he has ever been right now. He is one of the hottest stars in the NBA and has become one of the most talked about. Hali is also making waves in pop culture, having been name-dropped in a song called WTHelly by Ron49. That is all cool, and Haliburton appreciates the shoutout. But what he really wants is to feature in a Drake masterpiece.

Hali, a huge Drake fan, admitted to Logan Paul on the Impaulsive podcast that one of the main reasons he wants to win a championship, apart from the personal achievement, is so Drake might name-drop him in a song. And to be honest, that is not an unrealistic expectation.

Drake has casually mentioned plenty of NBA players in his music before, from DeMar DeRozan to LeBron James. He even had fellow Canadian star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander appear in one of his videos. Now, as Haliburton works to recover from his Achilles injury, he knows that an incredible comeback could be what finally earns him that same honor.

“I’m a big Drake fan. I’m rocking with Drake always,” Haliburton said, before explaining where his intense fandom came from. “Like my oldest brother was downloading Drake for me off like Livewire when I was a kid. Like that was like my introduction. It was Drake.”

“I was hoping that we won a championship just so I could get a name drop,” the 25-year-old continued. “I was like if we win, he might say Haliburton in a f****** song!”

Even when talking about his admiration for Drake, Hali could not leave LeBron out of the conversation. He is a self-proclaimed superfan of the Los Angeles Lakers legend, having bought jerseys from every team the King has ever played for. With Drake taking very public steps to distance himself from James, including covering up a tattoo of him and dissing him in songs and at concerts, there has been a beef, albeit a one-sided one, brewing between the two.

When the topic of that beef came up, Hali stayed diplomatic. “No comment,” he laughed. “I have no comment. No comment.” Haliburton may not be available to play in the NBA next season, but the Pacers point guard will always make time for a Drake concert, injury or not.