One Drake lyric for every player on the Toronto Raptors
By Lior Kozai
Chris Boucher
"“I’m only getting older, somebody should’ve told ya” (feature on DJ Khaled’s I’m On One)"
How old do you think Chris Boucher is?
He’s coming off his second NBA season, but it was effectively his rookie year after playing just a single game for the Warriors on a two-way contract in the 2017-18 season.
At 6-foot-10, Boucher has a very thin, 200-pound frame, giving him the appearance of a young athlete. His play reflects his youth and inexperience; despite receiving limited minutes last season, Boucher was unafraid to fire away three-pointers and often recklessly pursue blocks, sometimes with success.
Newsflash: Boucher is 26 years old, somehow a few months older than players like Steven Adams and Andre Drummond. The reigning G League MVP and Defensive Player of the Player was a late bloomer, playing four seasons of college basketball at three different schools. It feels like he should be 19 or 20 years old, but strangely, Boucher is closer to 30. Because of that, it’s hard to get quite as excited about Boucher as a young, raw prospect, since he actually isn’t all that young.
Somebody should’ve told you that Boucher is older than you thought. Now, somebody has.
Dewan Hernandez
"“All this for my family, man, I try my hardest” (Pop Style)"
Drake and Dewan Hernandez probably don’t have a lot in common. Two things they do share:
- An affinity for the University of Miami, where Drake filmed his music video for God’s Plan and where Hernandez went to school for three years.
- Motivation coming from a caring mother.
Hernandez, formerly Huell, told the Miami Herald in October 2018 that he changed his last name to honour his mother, Christina Hernandez, “for always being there for me whenever I needed her.” It allowed him to share a surname with her.
Here, Drake talks about how everything he does is for his family. More specifically to his mother, though, the rapper has dedicated entire songs like Look What You’ve Done and You & The 6.
Cameron Payne
"“Used to have secret handshakes to confirm my friendships” (Weston Road Flows)"
Cameron Payne’s NBA resume to this point is, uh, not great. The Raptors signing him seemed inexplicable at the time, except maybe for his 36 percent three-point shooting in just nine games with the Cleveland Cavaliers late last season.
Other than that, Payne has been awful throughout his NBA career, with a 46.5 effective field goal percentage (33.1 percent from downtown), paltry assist numbers, and atrocious advanced stats across the board.
To date, Payne is best known for his fun pregame handshakes and dances with Russell Westbrook during their time together with the Oklahoma City Thunder. If nothing else, this acquisition will give the Raptors a solid replacement for the bench celebrations that they’ll be missing out on after parting ways with Jordan Loyd (“that dude in the picture with Kawhi”).