The story behind Kentucky Basketball's stolen shoes in Toronto

During the radio broadcast of Kentucky’s GLOBL Jam opener vs. Germany on Wednesday, play-by-play announcer Tom Leach shared a story that quickly captivated the Big Blue Nation. On Tuesday night, the bag containing the team’s shoes — including Nike Ja 1 Hungers and Mambacita Kobe 4s, a gift from Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow — was stolen off the team bus. Thankfully, Kentucky had a backup bag of shoes in a manager’s hotel room and the Toronto Raptors also loaned them some, so they didn’t have to play barefoot vs. Germany, but the mystery of the stolen shoes remained. Today, we got an update from Matt Jones on Kentucky Sports Radio.

A source told Jones that a Kentucky staff member was on a run in Toronto and spotted a homeless person wearing a pair of Mambacitas, which go for $500 and up on secondary markets. The person who took the bag reportedly distributed the shoes at a homeless camp instead of selling them. Kentucky was able to retrieve some of the shoes, offering others in exchange for the Mambacitas.

After hearing the initial report, Nike overnighted new shoes to Toronto, which the team wore vs. Canada last night. Crisis averted, but there are still some Mambacitas and Ja 1 Hungers out there on the streets of Toronto, so keep an eye out.

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Kentucky spending the day at Drake’s house

The Cats don’t take the court again until tomorrow vs. Team Africa, and they’ve got quite a plan for their day off. The team will spend the day at Drake’s house in Toronto, frolicking in the pool and practicing on the rapper’s ridiculous indoor basketball court, known as “The Sanctuary.”

“We’re going to do some fun things tomorrow,” John Calipari said following Kentucky’s win over Canada Thursday night. “We’re gonna go to a friend of mine, his house. We’re going to swim in his pool, practice on his court. He’s on tour.”

Prior to the trip, Calipari told KSR his intentions to crash Drake’s mansion. He said, “I do have keys to his house, so I may drop the team by his house because I want to see the court–it has Toronto Raptors. I will leave some Kentucky stuff there.”

As you might expect, the players are excited.

“I don’t know what to expect until we get there but we’re going to have a ball,” said Antonio Reeves. “We’re going to have a blast there. We’re going to have fun. I heard they’re going to have a barbecue so we are going to eat good as well.”

Jordan Burks added, “It’s gonna be a great experience. I’m excited about it, honestly. It’s going to be tough, going to his house, swim in his pool, play on his basketball court. That’s tough.”

Unfortunately, KSR isn’t able to tag along on this field trip, but we’ll pass along the pictures and videos as they come out from Kentucky’s social team.