Prior to Friday’s pregame warm-ups, Target Center’s scoreboard fittingly played Pepsi MAX’s Uncle Drew: Chapter 2 commercial starring Kevin Love as Wes and Kyrie Irving as Uncle Drew. Timely, as the Cavaliers were in town facing the Wolves for their lone matchup in the Twin Cities this season. Unfortunately with Irving still recovering from a broken left index finger, Wes and Uncle Drew weren’t able to face each other head to head in real life during the Wolves’ 91-73 victory. But it did facilitate a platform for Love and others to re-live what has become an internet sensation. Love played the part of Wes, a longtime friend of Kyrie Irving’s character, Uncle Drew. The two participate in a pick-up game against younger opponents with the intent of showing them how to play “old school” basketball. Throughout the video the two slowly warm up and morph into players able to blow past defenders with nasty crossovers, throw down big dunks and hit from distance. “They teamed up on the commercial, and it would have been interesting to see what that looked like [Friday] going against each other,” Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. “That was pretty funny to see Uncle Wes, because I had no idea who that was until the end. I thought, ‘Wow, Kevin Love, that was pretty good.’ They did a heck of a job, so hopefully they’ll do some more of those together.” Love and Irving got to know one another through USA Basketball, and after shooting around and talking at the hotel the two gained a rapport. When the opportunity through Pepsi came about, Love said it was a perfect fit. Earlier this week, Pepsi unveiled a short video showing Love in his Wes costume meeting with his real-life dad, Stan Love, on the set. Stan flew in the day the commercial was shot not knowing what type of role his son was playing.
At first, Stan didn’t recognize Kevin in his aged costume. But Kevin said after doing a double-take, Stan saw the youth in his son’s eyes and knew it was him. Seeing Kevin aged well past his own years was a visibly shocking experience. “This is too much,” Stan said in the video, laughing. “This is really too much.” “I don’t know how to explain it,” Kevin said. “He was just taken aback by the whole thing. I don’t think he’d ever seen makeup like that up close, so it was a fun deal for him to be part of the video and just be there watching. It was a lot of fun.” Did Kevin think Wes aged as well as his father? “I look better than him,” Love said, joking. Love and Irving are each making names for themselves on the NBA hardwood; Love is a two-time All-Star and Irving is coming off his Rookie of the Year campaign. But Drew and Wes are gaining notoriety of their own. Uncle Drew: Chapter 2 has been viewed more than 3.8 million times on YouTube since it was published Oct. 30, and the original Uncle Drew has been viewed more than 17.9 million times since May 18. The behind the scenes video with Stan Love seeing Kevin in his Wes attire has been viewed more than 199,000 times since Monday. “It really was a heck of a job they did with the makeup,” Scott said. “I had no idea like I said until the end when I saw it was Kevin Love. I approached Kyrie about it, and he said, ‘Yeah, that was Kevin.’ So yeah, it was a nice commercial.”