Another day, another example of Drake loving Canada, even though he might be too rich to understand how our medical system actually works.
Everyone’s favourite Toronto Raptors stan took to Instagram over the weekend to express his appreciation for Fred VanVleet, the trooper of a point guard who took an elbow to the face and lost a part of his tooth in Friday’s playoff game against the Golden State Warriors.
During Friday’s game, cameras captured VanVleet bleeding profusely, and even lingered on the tooth remnant on the ground. He received seven stitches before returning to the bench to watch the Raptors win the game.
On Saturday, VanVleet posted a photo to Instagram of the damage to his face. He’s clearly bruised, with a Band-Aid under his right eye. Most noticeable, though, is the fact that a huge chunk of his left front tooth is gone.
But, he’s smiling, and his Instagram caption is a jokey reference to how he needs to fix his teeth, along with the laughing-crying emoji. What a good sport!
Enter Drake.
In a since-deleted comment, the rapper made a generous but not altogether practical suggestion: that VanVleet could use Drake’s Canadian health care to get it fixed.
“Damn twin you can use my free health care,” @champagnepapi wrote.
Unfortunately for Drake and for the rest of us, dental care is not covered by Canada’s publicly funded health-care program. Many schools and employers offer dental benefits, but people who aren’t covered under those plans generally have to pay pricey dental bills out of pocket.
It was a good suggestion, though.
As many people online have pointed out, there’s something of a resemblance between Drake and VanVleet. In the fall of 2017, the rapper even posted a photo of himself with Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, clarifying that the third person in the photo was in fact him and not a professional athlete.
And a chipped tooth is an exceptionally Canadian injury, given how often it happens to hockey players. This was pointed out to VanVleet after the game, but he didn’t seem particularly enthused by the comparison.
“If that’s what being Canadian is,” he said with a grin, “I’m not sure I want it.”
VanVleet is expected to play in Game 5 on Monday night, although he’ll be wearing a mouthguard this time.
“I’m a gambler. I gambled and sometimes it comes back to bite you in the butt,” VanVleet told reporters at the Scotiabank Arena after the team’s practice on Sunday.
“All kids out there, wear mouthpieces. It was a weird play and I took an unfortunate shot. Now I will be wearing a mouthpiece for as long as I can manage it.”
And, just in case anyone is actually worried about VanVleet’s dental bill, his salary for this year is rumoured to be somewhere in the USD $8 million range. He’s got it covered.
With files from The Canadian Press
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