Itโs not a stretch to say that LeBron James is the biggest Kendrick Lamar fan in the entire NBA. In February 2016, LeBron publicly called for Kendrick to release the "untitled tracks" that he was keeping under lock and key:
Kendrick responded by taking LeBronโs advice and releasing Untitled Unmastered in March 2016, and two days later, LeBron recognized Kendrickโs greatness in an "Uninterrupted" video that he put out:
In November 2016, LeBron used Kendrickโs "Alright" as the soundtrack to an inspirational Instagram post he put up following Donald Trumpโs victory in the presidential election:
And in December 2016, LeBron let loose at the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year ceremony when Kendrick performed "untitled 07" from Untitled Unmastered:
But LeBronโs biggest Kendrick-related stunt came on Thursday when he previewed the rapperโs new album, Damn, on Instagram for his 29 million followers. He shared snippets of songs and gave his seal of approval to Kendrickโs latest project:
But while LeBron might be the biggest Kendrick fan in the NBA, heโs obviously not the only Kendrick fan. On Thursday night, there were no NBA games scheduled for the first time since Thanksgiving following the regular season finales on Wednesday night, and that gave all of the NBA players out thereโboth those on teams headed home for the summer and those on teams preparing for the playoffsโan opportunity to sit with Kendrickโs latest album for a few hours when it dropped shortly before midnight. And many of them took advantage of their night off by giving Damn a few spins and sharing their reviews of the album on social media.
Here are some of the NBA players who pressed play on Kendrickโs project.
Athletes from other sports chimed in with their thoughts on Damn, too:
Clearly,ย LeBronย might have some competition when it comes to being Kendrickโs No. 1 fan.