The NBA offseason has delivered its share of trades, signings, and summer workouts. Through those things, LeBron James often finds himself in the spotlight, for obvious reasons. The GOAT suspect continues to be lethal as he approaches Year 23. However, this time around, hip-hop had jumped into the mix. And yet, LeBron ended up being caught in the crossfire, although noone is sure whether Drake was actually aiming for him.

A leaked snippet from the globally popular rapper’s upcoming track IceMan surfaced this week, and the bars have fans going crazy over whether he just reignited his beef with both James and DeMar DeRozan.

“I wanna do s*** to the King, when you were a part of the team, we planned Mexico trips in the spring. Must’ve been dealing with Spur-of-the-moment, because why did we think you could get us a ring?” the rapper sang. The verse hit social media late Saturday evening, instantly sparking speculation. Was Drake aiming at DeRozan, who spent years trying and failing to topple James’ Cavaliers during the Raptors’ playoff runs?

Or was this a direct jab at LeBron himself, poking at the fact that Toronto never got its ring until James was out of the East? Either way, the “King” reference wasn’t lost on fans. Nor was the pun on San Antonio “Spurs,” a clear nod to the Raptors’ struggles during DeRozan’s tenure and his eventual trade to San Antonio. The clever wordplay left just enough ambiguity for the internet to light up.

Was Drake dragging DeRozan for coming up short? Was he needling LeBron for abandoning old ties? Or both? Further, even if the overall verse was a dig at DeMar DeRozan, which seems likely because of the seemingly reference to the Spurs, Drake would have been well aware that the phrase “s–t to the King” was going to have negative connotations.

The intrigue is especially sharp because of what’s been brewing between Drake and LeBron over the past year. Their decade-long friendship has taken visible hits, with both men sending shots, sometimes subtle, sometimes direct.

And now, with this IceMan leak, it feels like the feud has another log on the fire. Let’s go back to July 21, when Tyler, the Creator, dropped his album Don’t Tap the Glass, shall we? LeBron appeared in the video for Stop Playing With Me alongside Pusha T, one of Drake’s most notorious rivals. Now, that cameo wasn’t accidental.

To many, it was LeBron picking a side. Drake had already dissed him weeks earlier on What Did I Miss?, accusing James of showing up at Kendrick Lamar’s “Pop Out” concert while still posing as an OVO supporter. “I saw bro in the Pop Out with them but been d***riding gang since ‘Headlines,’” Drake rapped. And their fallout has been building for almost a year now.

A detailed look into the LeBron James-Drake beef

Back in early 2024, LeBron seemed to play both sides, posting an owl emoji for Drake and hyping Kendrick’s bars as “heavyweight” material. But Kendrick Lamar later pulled James into the lyrical battlefield himself, warning him to “keep the family away” if he stayed aligned with Drake. LeBron’s public appearance at the Pop Out concert sealed the perception that he had shifted camps. The tension only grew from there.

Drake tweaked lyrics on old songs to distance himself from James, freestyled with references to LeBron’s high school team, and eventually covered up a LeBron-inspired tattoo with one honoring Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. LeBron clapped back in his own way as he was caught on camera rapping Not Like Us and cozying up to Pusha T for Tyler’s video. The friendship that once saw LeBron and his son Bronny featured on Drake’s 2023 tour now feels like ancient history.

And then there’s DeRozan. Drake’s loyalty to him has always been clear, from courtside appearances to music video cameos. But the leaked IceMan line complicates things. It reads almost like a playful diss about DeRozan’s inability to carry Toronto past LeBron’s Cavs. Yet in the context of Drake’s strained relationship with LeBron, fans wonder if it’s more about reminding James of how easily he shut down Drake’s hometown team.

For both LeBron and Drake, though, this isn’t just music. James is still carrying the Lakers in the late stages of his career, all while Luka Doncic looms as LA’s new centerpiece. Drake, meanwhile, is coming off one of the most bruising rap beefs of his career, losing ground to Kendrick Lamar in both cultural sway and critical reception. Public perception matters. Alignments matter. Every lyric, cameo, and social media post is a calculated move.

The leaked snippet is just the latest piece of that puzzle. Fans are dissecting each line, waiting to see if the full IceMan track lands with more direct shots. Will Drake really go all-in on the King? Will LeBron respond with more than emojis and cameos? Or does this remain a shadow war fought through lyrics and public appearances?

Either way, the Drake-LeBron-DeRozan triangle is far from cooling down. If anything, the IceMan snippet suggests we’ve only heard the opening verse of a much longer track. And the rest? Well, it might just haunt us all this Halloween, October 31st.