DeMar DeRozan got pulled into Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s rap feud in May after being name-dropped in the Compton lyricist’s “Not Like Us.” He subsequently appeared to pick a side in the rappers’ back-and-forth by attending “The Pop Out — Ken & Friends” concert in June. Then, on July 4, the NBA star made a cameo in the diss track’s visual companion.

However, according to DeRozan, there’s no tension between him and the Toronto native. In an interview with the Sacramento Bee on Wednesday (July 24), the former Raptors player claimed, “Drake’s still my man, still my man, none of it changed.”

“It’s so easy to get overlooked and look at it for what it looks like, but at the end of the day, it’s music, entertainment. Two of the biggest rappers in the world went at it from a competitive standpoint, and they battled it out,” he added before comparing Lamar and Drake to Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan playing one-on-one.

The To Pimp A Butterfly creator’s “I’m glad DeRoz’ came home, y’all didn’t deserve him neither” lyrics were a nod to the small forward being traded to the Sacramento Kings earlier in the year. He inked a three-year deal for reportedly over $70 million.

DeRozan also spoke about a talk he had with Lamar at the “The Pop Out — Ken & Friends” show. He detailed, “It was even a conversation I had with Kendrick where I just told him, ‘You don’t know how great you really are, being able to pull everybody and everything together in the manner that you did.’ There was never one issue.”

Notably, the California MC brought together several up-and-coming and mainstay acts from different parts of the West Coast, such as YG, Roddy Ricch and ScHoolboy Q. It was an impressive feat, considering how many are affiliated with rivaling gangs.

Meanwhile, “Not Like Us” returned to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier in July. It’s Lamar’s first solo record to spend more than one week on the chart.