Rihanna has been present at plenty of NBA games over the years of her superstardom and it is no secret that she is a huge basketball fan.
Rihanna currently supports the Los Angeles Lakers, but she was a Cleveland Cavaliers fan a few years ago. This is because she isn’t so much a team fan as she is a LeBron James fan. While Lebron was playing for the Cavaliers, she supported the team until he was traded to the Lakers. The Cavaliers didn’t just trade Lebron, they traded their Riri alliance.
You can read more about Rihanna’s worship of King James and the subjects of her mad heckling skills below.
Rihanna’s LeBron Fandom Begins
Rihanna was introduced to LeBron James in 2009 by their mutual friend, Shawn Carter, also known as Jay-Z. Just like Rihanna, LeBron was successful from a young age and has risen to fame for his talents. His talents lay on the basketball court, not in a recording studio.
After meeting LeBron, Rihanna became interested in the NBA. She was soon seen courtside at Miami Heat basketball games and cheering on the team. LeBron, happened to be a player on the Miami Heat. When the Heat won the 2012 NBA Playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Rihanna tweeted “Congrats to Lebron on his first ring! Well deserved HEAT!!!!” The Miami Heat won the finals again the next year against the San Antonio Spurs.
Riri Follows King James
In 2014, LeBron opted out of his contract with the Miami Heat. This meant he was an unrestricted free agent. His home team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, jumped at the opportunity to sign him. He went back to his former team and Rihanna followed suit. She was now a Cavaliers fan.
In 2016, LeBron helped to bring the Cavaliers the NBA Playoff win they had been hoping to win. During the Eastern Conference the Cavaliers were up against the Toronto Raptors and Riri showed her support. She posted an image to her Instagram of her tanning with LeBron’s jersey number 23 on her stomach in sunscreen.
Then, when the Cavaliers won the finals against the Golden State Warriors, Rihanna was going off on the gram. Her Instagram had numerous pictures of LeBron James posted. In one post she said “Who y’all think y’all frontin’ on???! ??? #NeverLoseFaith #Champ #MVP #History #KingJames #OnYourTurf ??”
In 2018, LeBron once again became a free agent and was picked up by the Los Angeles Lakers. So as you can guess, Rihanna is now a Lakers fan.
You can watch the below YouTube clip from TMZ that shows Rihanna celebrating her 31st birthday at the Lakers game.
Heckling the Other Teams
It’s not news that Rihanna has some serious sass, so it should come as no surprise that the Good Girl Gone Bad singer is quite the smack talker. In fact, she has not only heckled the players on the court, but gotten to some of the other teams fans.
In 2015, Rihanna got in touch with Golden State Warriors owner, Joe Lacob, to land courtside tickets to NBA finals game 1. LeBron’s Cavalier’s were facing off against the Warriors. Unaware that Rihanna is a LeBron fangirl, Lacob sat her next to himself. This MTV article highlights that Rihanna cheered on the Cavaliers for the entire game even after Lacob said she was making him look bad. Lacob eventually changed seats.
Rihanna has also heckled Kevin Durant on multiple occasions, most famously when she yelled “brick” at him during one of his free throws. Brick is a term used in basketball to mean a missed shot. Most recently, Josh Hart was the subject of Riri’s taunts after his awkward encounter with LeBron’s crotch during a slam dunk in March of 2020.
One thing’s for certain, Rihanna is a die hard Lebron fan. She also has some serious chops when it comes to her support of the King.