Toronto is a city of champions in early 2020, that's for sure. There are the NBA-winning ballers and US Open victor Bianca Andreescu for starters. And now, 6ix sports fans are congratulating one former Raptor for getting his hands on a championship. Even though, erm, he hasn't. In fact, the well-wishes are simply the result of some pretty uncanny Jonas Valanciunas-Travis Kelce similarities. Kelce is a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, who won Super Bowl LIV on Sunday, February 2 as the Missouri team beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 in Miami. And while plenty of Ontarians were likely already glued to the annual phenomenon, basketball fans had a specific and slightly strange reason to be interested. That's because, as has been pointed out in the past, Kelce is a Valanciunas doppelgänger, especially when it comes to his facial hair, which really nails down the likeness. This is not exactly a new discovery, as the comparison has been made for years. Don't believe us? Here's a 2016 tweet illustrating the point. And just to add further credence, some fans were legit confused when Kyle Lowry was snapped chilling with Kelce over the summer, while they were thinking he was hanging with JV. But Kelce and the Chiefs' win on Sunday clearly reignited those comparisons. https://www.reddit.com/r/torontoraptors/comments/ey0axt/lets_congratulate_our_boy_jv_on_his_super_bowl_win/ from https://www.reddit.com/r/torontoraptors Valanciunas, as you may remember, did not receive a championship ring denoting the Raptors' first-ever title win. That's despite Lowry campaigning for him to get one after the Lithuanian spent six-and-a-half years in the 6ix. He left as part of the Marc Gasol trade in February 2019. And he notably seemed less-than-impressed back in November when asked for his feelings on not receiving a ring. Well, JV might be pleased to know Raptors fans have got his back. He may have left 12 months ago, but the memories clearly live long for the die-hards. Jonas Valanciunas is the first NBA player to win a superbowl. #TravisKelce pic.twitter.com/QhzP590WJT— Andy (@AndyWong04) February 3, 2020 Jonas Valanciunas didn’t get an NBA ring but he won the Super Bowl pic.twitter.com/MGxeBbdwKu— Scoops Ahoy (@WeTheNorth91) February 3, 2020 Soooo happy for Jonas Valanciunas who finally got that monkey off his back and won BIG after the @Raptors traded him before winning it all last year #ChiefsKingdom #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/vavvD6fHdo— Tommy Paragraphs (@tommyparagraphs) February 3, 2020 JV said fuck your Championship ring I'm gonna go win a Super Bowl— ke!sea (@kelsea_lately) February 3, 2020 wow I can’t believe Jonas won a super bowl 😱 truly the 🐐 pic.twitter.com/E8Do1n0Wui— Sehaj (@sdot_10) February 3, 2020 Love it. pic.twitter.com/GTudZADoi3— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) February 3, 2020 I’m just happy Jonas Valanciunas finally got his championship 😤 #SuperBowLIV pic.twitter.com/S0ROH6bdgB— Alykhan Khamisa Ravjiani (@AlykhanKR) February 3, 2020 JV finally got his ring pic.twitter.com/MfYAOtpjBg— Toronto Mike (@torontomike) February 3, 2020 "Sooo happy for Jonas Valanciunas who finally got that monkey off his back and won BIG after the Raptors traded him before winning it all last year," read one fan's tweet. Supporters were upset back in February when it was announced that Valanciunas was being pushed through the exit door. And they hailed his return when he appeared courtside back in April as the Raptors were kicking off what would be their triumphant postseason. While things appear to have worked out alright for the franchise since they traded big for Gasol, Jonas has not been forgotten.
