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Canadian Rapper, Drake was one of the NBA Finals bettors who earned payouts after the Denver Nuggets’ Game 5 victory at home Monday night to win a title.
However, his winnings were probably very high compared to the others.
He revealed before Game 5 on his Instagram story that he had $242,584 in Bitcoin on Denver winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
“The Joker,” Drake said in his story, talking about star center of the Nuggets Nikola Jokic. “Cash me out. Gotta see this one hit right here. It’s a must.”
Following Denver securing the deal against the Miami Heat, Drake earned a whopping sum of $824,785 in payouts. The One Dance crooner is already worth millions, but this type of win comes with a massive celebration.
Drake who goes by the moniker “Champagne Papi’’ on Instagram, posted two more stories showing how the outcome of the finals had made him a happy man.
“Me and Eddie after Nuggets finally get me a sports win @stake,” Drake wrote with a Polaroid picture of Jokic and teammate Jamal Murray smiling.
Denver’s Murray is also a Canadian, so Drake’s next story was a still shot of the shooting guard after the victory with Canada’s national flag and “cash me’’ written in capital letters.
Murray delivered only 14 points in Game 5, which is low for his postseason standards. He delivered eight rebounds and eight assists over 41 minutes.
The Joker headed his team offensively with 28 points and 16 rebounds and was awarded the title of Finals MVP.
The Denver Nuggets surpassed the Miami Heat 94-89 in a challenging Game Five of the finals to clinch their first NBA title; Nikola Jokic, the star of the team won the Bill Russell trophy as the NBA Finals MVP.
Jokic who made history as the first player in the NBA to lead the league in points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190) in a single postseason saved his teammates with 28 points and 16 rebounds in a game where all hope was lost.
The Serbian was awarded the Bill Russell trophy as the NBA Finals MVP, an award that meant more to him than the two overall MVPs he won in 2021 and 2022.
“We are not in it for ourselves, we are in it for the guy next to us,” Jokic said. “And that’s why this (means) even more.”
The Nuggets found it difficult to subdue the burning Heat or beat the finals night nerves, causing them to miss 20 of their first 22 three-pointers and seven of their first 13 free throws.
Jokic’s team led by seven late before Miami’s Jimmy Butler scored eight straight points to give his team a one-point lead with 2:45 left.
Butler ended the night with 21, making two extra free throws with 1:58 remaining to help Miami retain a one-point lead. Bruce Brown then got an offensive rebound and tip-in to give Denver the final lead.
Following behind by three with 15 seconds left, Jimmy shot a three but missed the net. Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope delivered two free throws each to keep the match out of reach and win the title for Denver.
No matter how tough the game was, the aftermath was beautiful, something the Nuggets and their fans could accept.
Fireworks exploded outside Ball Arena at the final buzzer. Denver will house the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time in the team’s 47 years in the NBA.
“It was ugly and we couldn’t make shots, but at the end, we figured it out,” Jokic said. “I am just happy we won the game”
“That’s why basketball is a fun sport,” he added. “It’s a live thing. You cannot say, ‘This is going to happen’. There are so many factors. I’m just happy that we won the game.”
Miami Heat, as coach Erik Spoelstra said, were a tenacious bunch to break. But they failed in their shooting. Bam Adebayo shot 20 for the team, but the Heat shot 34 per cent from the floor and 25 per cent from threes. Until Butler brook loose, he was 2-for-13 on eight points.
The Heat thrived through a loss in the play-in tournament and became the only second No 8 seed to advance to finals, insisting that they did not want the consolation prizes. They played like they expected a victory, and for a while during the match which was more settled on the ground than in the air, it seemed they would.
Denver came in shooting 37.6 per cent from 3 for the series and shot 18 per cent in this one.
The team committed 14 turnovers. Despite clutch shots from Brown and Caldwell-Pope, they went just 13 for 23 from the line.
The Denver Nuggets set the tone of the game with 2:51 left in the first quarter when The Joker received his second foul and joined Aaron Gordon on the bench. Jeff Green and Jamal Murray, who concluded with 14 points and 8 assists on an off night, joined them too.
Denver was tentative on both ends of the court for the remainder of the half. Somehow, after they shot 6.7 per cent from threes – the worst first half in the history of the finals (10-shot minimum) they only trailed by seven.
True to the Denver Nuggets’ character, they pressed on and came at the Heat in waves. Their historic game morphed into a slugfest, but they found a way to win regardless.
Real Madrid have officially confirmed the signing of highly-rated Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham.
The Spanish giant reportedly paid £113 million for the Englishman, who has agreed to a six-year deal. According to Sportsmail, the deal will guarantee Dortmund £ 88.5 million- but will rise towards £113.5m due to £25m worth of performance-related add-ons – believed to be achievable.
Real Madrid made Bellingham a priority signing this summer as they look to bounce back after a below-par campaign that saw them miss out on the UCL title and finish ten points behind rivals Barcelona in La Liga.
Madrid beat Liverpool and Manchester City to the signing of the 19-year-old, who was recently crowned the Bundesliga Player of the Year despite narrowly missing out on the league title.
Juventus have reportedly asked Chelsea about a potential move for out-of-favour USMNT star Christian Pulisic, who AC Milan and Napoli also want.
According to the Gazzetta dello Sport via GOAL, the Old Lady’s sporting director Giovanni Manna was in London on Tuesday to hold a meeting with Chelsea over the potential transfer of Pulisic.
The American attacker is one of the several players expected to leave Stamford Bridge this summer and is attracting interest from several Serie A sides, with Juventus the frontrunners.
According to the report, Chelsea are looking at using him in a player-plus-cash deal to sign Serbian striker Dusan Vlahovic.
The Juventus striker is one of Chelsea’s targets for the striker position but is yet to decide if he will move to Stamford Bridge, as the Blues are not in Europe next season.
However, Juventus wants to raise between €120-130 million this summer, and they hope to get around €80 million for Vlahovic. So that might negatively impact Pulisic’s chances of being included in the deal.
Meanwhile, fellow Serie A clubs AC Milan and Napoli could offer him an escape route from Chelsea as they are reportedly keen to secure the winger’s services.
Bayern Munich attacker Sadio Mane is the latest big player wanted by a club in Saudi Arabia.
The country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is targeting a series of star players from top European clubs, having already sanctioned the signing of Karim Benzema from Real Madrid this season. Chelsea stars Kalidou Koulibaly and N’Golo Kante are also linked to a move to the Saudi Pro League.
And according to the latest reports by GetFootball, the PIF are interested in signing Mane, who only joined Bayern Munich last summer.
The former Liverpool winger was seen as a marquee signing when he joined the Bavarians last summer. But his first season at the club, though it started well, didn’t go to plan.
He was famously sanctioned by the club for hitting his teammate Leroy Sane, while a leg injury before the World Cup also hampered his involvement with the team. As such, there have been suggestions that Bayern want to sell him this season.
The Saudi PIF has now stepped in to deliver him from his Bayern nightmare. They have named Al-Ettifaq as the 31-year-old’s likely destination, given the Saudi Pro League club has registered an interest in signing him.
However, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund has said that Mane can join whichever Saudi club he wants.
Al-Ettifaq – who finished seventh in the league – are looking to reinforce their squad ahead of the 2023-2024 campaign and believe Mane would be a valuable addition.
Should Mane join Al-Ettifaq, he will probably link up with former Liverpool manager Steven Gerrard, who was recently linked with taking over at the club.
Kylian Mbappe has reportedly informed Paris Saint-Germain that he will not renew his contract at the club when it expires next season.
The Frenchman is one of the most crucial figures at Parc des Princes and is seen as the face of the club now that Lionel Messi has left.
But he has sparked a transfer saga with his latest move, informing the club that he does not want to trigger the one-year extension in his current deal.
According to a report by Sportsmail, the 24-year-old forward informed PSG of his decision to leave next season via a letter.
According to the report, Mbappe could have waited till July 31st to tell PSG about his plans. But given that he is unhappy with the direction the club is going, he made his decision known earlier than expected.
His decision has now put PSG in a difficult position, as they must sell him this season to avoid losing him for free next year.
The French giants had been willing to give him greater incentives to stay on a long-term deal, with the club planning to make him the face of their new project, which will heavily feature more France internationals.
However, this move has come as a surprise and will leave them little option but to sanction a sale, with his long-time suitor Real Madrid is expected to be at the head of the queue.
The Spanish giants want a replacement for Karim Benzema, who left for Saudi Arabia. But they know that PSG would demand a world record fee for Mbappe, and that might prove difficult as Los Blancos have already committed £88m of their budget to sign Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund.
French heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain are reportedly interested in signing Napoli hitman Victor Osimhen this summer.
Osimhen has enjoyed a successful season in Italy, with his 26 goals in Serie A firing Napoli to their first league title in over 30 years. His form has alerted the interest of several clubs, including Manchester United and Chelsea.
But PSG’s interest has now complicated United’s chances, with the French heavyweights keen on pairing him up with French speedster Kylian Mbappe.
According to reports in France via Le Parisien, Mbappe is keen to play off a main centre forward, and Osimhen is considered the best option.
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Lionel Messi has confirmed that he will not be heading back to Barcelona but will rather move to Major League Soccer side Inter Miami CF.
The Argentine international’s future has been the subject of intense speculation in the last few months as he was approaching the end of his contract at Parc des Princes.
His former side Barcelona were one of the clubs keen on signing him, with the Spanish club speaking to La Liga to work out a special arrangement that would bring the attacker back to Camp Nou.
Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal also wanted to sign Messi and offered him a ginormous £ 2 billion deal that would have made him the highest-paid athlete in the world.
But the 35-year-old has decided to join Inter Miami in a deal that reportedly includes an option for the Argentine to become a part-owner of the MLS side.
In an interview with Mundo Deportivo, he said: “I’m not going back to Barça; I’m going to Inter Miami.
“I really wanted [to return to Barcelona], I was very excited to be able to return, but after having experienced what I experienced and the exit I had, I did not want to be in the same situation again: waiting to see what was going to happen and leaving my future in hand from another.
“I wanted to make my own decision, thinking about myself, about my family. Although I heard that it was said that LaLiga had accepted everything and that everything was fine for him to return, there were still many other things that had to be done.
“I heard that they [Barcelona] had to sell players or lower players’ salaries, and the truth is that I didn’t want to go through that, nor take charge of obtaining something that had to do with all that’.
‘I have already been accused of many things that were not true in my career at Barcelona, and I was already a bit tired; I didn’t want to go through all that. And well, by the time I had to leave, La Liga had also accepted that they signed me up, and in the end, it couldn’t be done.
“Well, I was afraid that the same thing would happen again and I had to go through the bullfight as it happened, that I had to come here to Paris to stay in a hotel for a long time with my family, with my children going to school and still being in the hotel… I wanted to make my own decision, and that’s why it was a bit that I didn’t turn to Barça. Although I would have loved it, I couldn’t.
“I am also in a moment where I want to get out of focus a bit, think more about my family. As I was just saying, I spent two years at a family level that was so bad that I didn’t enjoy it. I had the month that was spectacular for me for having won the World Cup, but removing that was a difficult stage for me.”
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed that title-winning coach Luciano Spalletti will leave the club to take a year-long sabbatical at the end of the current campaign.
Spelletti still has a year left on his contract with Napoli but has asked the club to allow him to leave at the end of the season.
The Italian tactician’s request comes after a highly successful season where he guided the Naples-based club to their first Serie A title in 33 years.
Despite being reluctant to let the coach go, De Laurentiis says he has granted Spalletti’s wish.
“Spalletti told me that a cycle has come to an end, and he asked me to leave because he wants a sabbatical year. I will respect his choice despite the contract,” De Laurentiis told RAI via GOAL.
The Napoli president also revealed his plans for the Diego Maradona Stadium to attract more visitors on the back of a historic season.
“I’ll try to make it a stadium of property: the Municipality will give it to us for 99 years, and things will change,” he added. “It will pulsate every day of the week. Let us marry people? Why not. There will be a museum and more.”
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham has been named the Bundesliga Player of the Season after a stellar campaign.
Bellingham narrowly missed out on winning the league title with Dortmund, who squandered their chance to end Bayern Munich’s dominance on the last day of the campaign.
The Black and Yellow went into the last game of the season needing a win to secure their ninth league title. But they squandered a two-point lead after they only managed a 2-2 draw against Mainz.
But despite all the disappointment of losing out on the title on the final day, Bellingham has won a consolation prize by winning the Bundesliga Player of the Year Award.
The English teenager enjoyed a stellar campaign with Dortmund, as he scored 14 goals and provided seven assists in 42 matches.
He’s been linked with a move away from Signal Iduna Park this summer, with Real Madrid reportedly leading the chase for his signature.
According to reports, Los Blancos have already struck a deal worth £108 million, with £87m guaranteed and a further £21m in performance-related add-ons.
He will soon be unveiled as a Real Madrid player.
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