There are few celebrity basketball fans as enthusiastic as Drake. The Canadian rapper has repeatedly pledged allegiance to his hometown team, the Toronto Raptors, and regularly hangs with basketball legends, LeBron James and Steph Curry. Now, Champagne Papi is taking his devotion to the next level with an October’s Very Own (OVO) x NBA collaboration.
Despite Drake’s sports connections, his brand tapped Bobby Shmurda to model the NBA collection, dressing the Brooklyn rapper in a hat and full tracksuit inspired by the New York Knicks. An OVO Instagram post highlights Shmurda’s icy accessories too, revealing in the caption that the NBA collaboration is part of the brand’s larger Fall / Winter 2021 collection.
In the headlines and sidelines —
OVO’s Knicks pieces combine the team’s traditional logos with its own. The brand’s collaborative cap features its signature owl motif alongside a basketball while utilizing the Knicks' blue, orange, and white colors. It can be paired with a varsity-style warm-up jacket bearing an orange OVO “O” patch on the right and a Knicks’ logo on the left. “World Champions 1970, 1973” is embroidered onto the coat, while matching sweatpants bear the same iconography.
As OVO recruited Brooklyn rapper Shmurda to rep the Knicks, it also enlisted Chicago rapper Chief Keef to model collaborative pieces from the Chicago Bulls. Like Shmurda, Keef can be seen donning a co-branded varsity jacket, although his is red and bears horned OVO branding on its backside. A matching red cap — featuring OVO’s owl accented with bull-like horns — completes the fit.
More merch to come —
Especially as basketball season heats up, more teams are expected to join OVO’s NBA apparel lineup. For now, the brand plans to launch its Knicks collection first, with a drop scheduled for September 29 on OVO’s website. Pricing details have yet to be announced.
Already, people are hyping up the collaboration on OVO’s Instagram: “This is one of the hardest pics I’ve ever seen,” writes one user in response to a photo of Shmurda decked out in OVO x Knicks gear. “Take my money,” writes another enthusiastic follower. Whether you’re a basketball fan or not, pieces will be selling fast — and as more teams and rappers join OVO’s roster, demand will only grow.
