Late last month, SLAM Magazine released the cover to their 198th Issue featuring Drake alongside Toronto Raptors guards and All-Stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Drizzy has emerged this season as a key piece to the Raptors' playoff-bound season, filling out his role as Team Ambassador by helping to pull this year's NBA All-Star Weekend to the Six, and at times providing more to the team than a courtside presence.

While Drake himself isn't interviewed in the SLAM feature, he is written about, referenced, and mentioned in portions of the answers given by both Lowry and DeRozan, with the latter revealing that the three all text each other in one group chat. "For me, my first year here, that’s when Drake first started coming out," DeRozan said. "To see him grow and evolve into the megastar he is, and always supporting the city, the country, us, to be our team ambassador—this man got his own team jersey that we wear. To have that, it’s definitely incredible. He’s really our man. He texts me and Kyle in our group chat after games and all that. He’s really supportive of what we’re doing, and vice versa."

DeRozan later adds that a lot of the time the three aren't even discussing basketball. Lowry meanwhile, echoes the sentiment that Drake's role with regard to the team has become multi-faceted.

"For us, it’s gotten to the point where he’s our friend, and for a guy to be a megastar, to be a guy that we can call our friend, and to be at our games, to be as supportive of us as he is, you can’t put that in words," he said. "He truly loves what we do, loves the city, loves the organization—he’s a part of us for a reason. We just appreciate the respect that he’s given us. Me, him and DeMar—I can call him a friend and I’m sure DeMar, you can call him a friend, too."

Read the full feature over at SLAM.

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