Drake, the Emmy-Award winning rapper, will host the inaugural NBA Awards show that airs June 26.
Drake, the global ambassador for the Toronto Raptors, will host the NBA’s first-ever televised awards show, Turner and the NBA announced. The show will air June 26 on TNT.
The NBA has been on the forefront of many innovations in the sports world, but they’ve fallen behind in the presentation of its awards. The NFL and NHL have been hosting awards shows for their top individual honors for the past few years. The Heisman Trophy presentation is one of the biggest draws for any awards show. It only makes sense the NBA would follow suit, no matter how late.
The caveat to the shift of a ceremony is that the awards that will be presented — MVP, Coach of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man and Most Improved Player — won’t be revealed until after the season ends … meaning we won’t officially know who won the MVP in what could be the most anticipated race of the decade.
The All-NBA teams will be announced prior, so teams are able to create their offseason plans.
Drake is a huge splash for the first one. He is already arguably the biggest star to have hosted a sport’s major awards show. The NFL has had actors Alec Baldwin and Keegan-Michael Key and late-night hosts Seth Myers and Conan O’Brien. Four celebrities without Drake’s star power. The NHL has had actors Will Arnett and Rob Riggle and George Stroumboulopoulos.
To be fair, it’s not a competition between who can draw the better hosts, but it is a compliment to the NBA in its ability to draw the biggest names.
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And though Drake is a fraudulent Raptors fan — he hasn’t been seen at the Air Canda Centre since Drake Night — and attends games only in spirit, his global popularity across multiple industries will draw attention. Besides, basketball aside, Drake is multi-talented both as a performer and an actor.