The Golden State Warriors play their home games in nearby Oracle Arena, and while on tour, rapper Travis Scott recently performed two gigs in Oakland.
Scott turned up at the Warriors’ practice facility on Wednesday before their game against the Sacramento Kings and had a meeting with the players. And he practiced his shot in front of Warriors player Stephen Curry, widely considered the best shooter of all time.
Scott is seen in the video giving Curry and Chris Paul a hearty welcome. Gary Payton II and rookie point guard Brandin Podziemski both stopped over to say hello. Podziemski had heard about Scott’s “great show” in Oakland the night before.
A moment later, Podziemski told Scott that he needed to see his jumper.
I was wondering how his fitness level was. Not great, but not bad, either. Scott’s feet look like they have some room to straighten out toward the basket, and his thumb looks like it creeps down the ball a little too far. Similarly, both hands come forward on his follow-through, which worked for Larry Bird, but isn’t how a coach would teach shooting in 2023.
Although his hand placement may be better, Scott still appears to obtain great rotation. Furthermore, he made at least one corner three-pointer, and corner threes in the NBA are nearly 1.5 feet longer than corner threes in the NCAA.
Scott attended a gig Wednesday evening, so it’s unknown how much of Wednesday’s game he caught.
He missed what could have been the best finish of the young season so far if he had to leave before the end. A floater by Curry with under a minute to go put the Warriors up by two points.
Domantas Sabonis, a center for the Kings, scored a basket from midrange on the next possession to give his team the lead again. However, with 0.2 seconds remaining, Warriors guard Klay Thompson curved off a screen and sank a jump shot, lifting the Warriors to a 102-101 victory.
The Warriors open the new NBA in-season tournament on Friday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Scott, meantime, will carry on with his tour on November 5 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, site of upcoming games between the Chargers and the Rams. The 70,000-person capacity arena allegedly sold out for Scott’s show, making him the first rap artist to do so. He has been on the road since July to promote his new album “Utopia,” which opened at number one on the Billboard 200.
