Ex-Raptors big man Serge Ibaka breaks a Spotify streaming record

From winning an NBA title in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors to hosting a renowned cooking show to his transition into music, there’s hardly an art form that Serge Ibaka hasn’t broached.

Most recently, people have been talking about his track “Champion” alongside French rapper Ninho, which has now surpassed 35 million plays on Spotify.

Per Boardroom, that’s the most-ever active listens among an active NBA player, topping Damian Lillard’s “Money Ball” track.

.@SergeIbaka’s “Champion” with @ninhosdt has surpassed Dame DOLLA’s “Money Ball” as the most streamed song ever by an active NBA player. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/dEUIbJQtSR

— Boardroom (@boardroom) August 29, 2022

And it’s not a one-off, either, as Ibaka currently has 588,547 monthly listeners on Spotify.

“Champion” was originally released in 2021 and is one of the top tracks on his album Art, which dropped last week. Most of the song is actually in French (Ibaka hails from the People’s Republic of the Congo, while Ninho has Congolese roots).

But Ibaka, also often known by his pseudonym “Mafuzzy chef,” added in a few bars in English as well.

“‘Fuzzy
This is Original Man, hundred percent pure from the motherland
Le mister avec classe Ma Fuzzy Man
I do art”

Ibaka picked up the “chef” moniker while hosting the cooking show How Hungry Are You?, which has been hosted both through his own YouTube channel as well as via Bleacher Report and Sportsnet.

Originally acquired Ibaka averaged 14.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 228 games for the Raptors in his career, spread across four seasons.

Last fall, a fan asked the former Raptor on Instagram if he’d ever consider playing in Toronto again.

“Never say never…” he replied, adding in another story that there are “Definitely things I miss about Toronto.”

But in the later stages of his career, it appears that ship might have sailed, with Ibaka re-signing with the Milwaukee Bucks this offseason.

Splitting his time between the Bucks and Clippers this past season, Ibaka averaged 6.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 54 games in 2021-22.

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