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Damian Lillard and Marvin Bagley III start the NBA offseason with a diss track beef

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June 21, 2019 at 5:24 p.m. EDT
Damian Lillard might have registered another win this week. (David Zalubowski/AP)
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NBA stars Damian Lillard and Marvin Bagley III co-authored the latest chapter in the ever-growing encyclopedia of NBA pettiness Thursday night with a back-and-forth rap battle about who the best emcee in the NBA truly is.

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It started during Bagley’s appearance on ESPN’s “First Take,” when host Max Kellerman brought up the Sacramento Kings forward’s interest in rap, then questioned who was the better NBA rapper, Bagley or Lillard.

Despite Lillard’s well-received 2017 album “Confirmed,” which featured popular rappers 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne, Bagley unconvincingly responded, “Man, me …. I’ma go with myself.”

Later that evening, as the NBA draft was getting underway, Bagley decided to say it with his chest, doubling down on his claim by releasing a diss track aimed at Lillard. Entitled “No Debate,” the track featured a picture of Bagley unleashing a triumphant yell as Lillard stood next to him with his head hanging.

Clearly triggered by the diss, Lillard, who’s known in the rap game by his moniker Dame D.O.L.L.A, returned the favor with his own diss track entitled, “MARVINNNNNN???.” (The exaggerated spelling was a nod to a January Breakfast Club interview when rapper and entrepreneur Soulja Boy over emphasized Drake’s name after one of the show’s hosts implied that Drake and Soulja Boy were on the same level.)

Lillard, a second-team All-NBA guard for the Portland Trail Blazers, floated on the two minute, six-second sample of Drake’s 2018 Pusha T diss “Duppy Freestyle,” while his lyrics referenced the famous quote from “The Wire”: “When you come at the King, you best not miss.”

Among Lillard’s bars: “Was about to pass 'cause you still in Pampers, bruh, and I never seen Floyd spar with amateurs, so this the one and only time I’m picking up the phone."

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That response caused NBA Twitter to erupt; Lillard’s tweet was retweeted more than 23,000 times, while the song received about a million plays on SoundCloud within 24 hours.

NBA players and other celebrities took to social media, begging Lillard, 28, to have mercy on the 20-year old Bagley, while also praising his work.

“Why you do that?” Bradley Beal asked on Instagram.

“Tough...so tough,” wrote Kevin Durant.

“Mannnnnnn,” wrote Seth Curry.

“Come on man you ain’t gotta do em like that!” wrote former NFL defensive end Cliff Avril.

With all of the momentum on his side and no response from Bagley, Lillard appeared to proclaim himself the winner of this beef when he delivered more blows on a second diss track just after midnight, this one entitled “Bye Bye.”

Lillard: “I feel bad because you’re a kid and I’m taking the candy.”

Following the onslaught, Bagley’s younger brother Marcus took to Instagram to explain the delay in his brother’s response while promising that the beef wasn’t over.

And so Friday morning, Bagley reapplied the pressure with a fiery track entitled, “Checkmate” featuring a photoshopped picture of him holding a toddler-sized Lillard.

But as of Friday afternoon Bagley and Lillard appeared to call off the war of words via their respective Twitter accounts.

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