Drake Replaces LeBron Tattoo With Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Tattoo
Ever since LeBron James attended Kendrick Lamar's "Pop Out" concert in Los Angeles on Juneteenth in 2024, a show that saw NBA stars like Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan take the stage and dance during Lamar's "Not Like Us" diss track of Drake, the noted friendship between the two has been questioned incessantly.
Just last week, it became pretty apparent that Drake took a shot at James in his new "What Did I Miss?" track, dropping the following lyrics:
"I saw bro at the Pop Out with them but been d---kriding gang since Headlines [a song by Drake]. You switched on the guys and supported a hater [Lamar]."
If there were any doubt that those lyrics were directed at LeBron James, Drake basically confirmed as much on Friday, July 11, at his 2025 Wireless Festival.
Thanks to some highly observant fans, Drake's "Irish 23" jersey tattoo that paid homage to James and his storied high school days at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, appears to have been replaced.
In a move that doesn't necessarily come across as surprising—Drake is not exactly the type of person to simply wear longer sleeves to cover up the LeBron love—the rapper has ditched the James tattoo in favor of a tattoo paying tribute to fellow Canadian and Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai-Gilgerous-Alexander.
More specifically, the NBA regular season MVP and NBA Finals MVP's No. 2 Thunder jersey.
While the tattoo itself is by no means elaborate, saying "Thunder" with "2" right below it, the statement says plenty to Drake's rapidly dropping fallout with James.
Drake covered his LeBron tattoo with one of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ???? pic.twitter.com/ZSiJJZ9HMY
— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) July 12, 2025
Back in January of this year, Drake had initially made a somewhat obvious reference to James in his conveniently named "Fighting Irish" freestyle, reminiscing about when the duo apparently once traded watches.
"Remember we traded watches, I gave you the Arabic dial, and you gave me the numbered edition."
The additional lyrics from Drake in "Fighting Irish" about the fallen friendship and loyalty can be found in the X post below.
“Remember we traded watches I gave you the arabic dial and you gave me the numbered edition”
— shotta (@ShottaSV) January 3, 2025
Looks like Drake had some words for Lebron James on his new “Fighting Irish” freestyle pic.twitter.com/6U9yYcAGTo
And now? Well, now, we sit back and wait for some kind of subtle to not-so-subtle response from LeBron on his social media platform of choice.
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