NBA legend Michael Jordan is probably one of the chief reasons why there are so many basketball fans around the world. His Airness helped spread the game across a wide global landscape. Alongside MJ, active players such as LeBron James and Stephen Curry too have garnered millions of fans for their skills and prowess on the court. While they may be some of the best players in the league, it was a certain former New York Knicks star who managed to impress singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. In fact, he was the reason Taylor became a major Knicks fan.

The concerned star is non other than Amar’e Stoudemire. Grammy Award-winning singer, Taylor Swift is not known to be a huge basketball fan. However, she sure does have an interesting relationship with the NBA. Swift was just 12 years old when she sang the National Anthem before the Detroit Pistons vs Philadelphia 76ers game in 2002. In October, 2014, Swift even visited a New York Knicks practice where she clicked a photo with Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.

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About a month later in November, Swift confessed to TIME that she was already a Knicks fan even though she had just moved to the Big Apple. When asked why she liked the Knicks, she answered it was because of Stoudemire.

Taylor Swift heaped adulations on NBA star Amar’e Stoudemire

In 2014, Taylor Swift said that she was a fan of the New York Knicks. However, at the time, the Knicks were not doing too well on the court. Even Amar’e Stoudemire was at his career-low 10.9 point per game. TIME’s Jack Dickey asked Swift why she liked them even though the team was performing poorly.

Swift answered that the team’s performance didn’t matter to her and she loved them anyway. She said that she had previously met Stoudemire and his wife Alexis at the Met Ball and they were the ‘most normal’ people present at the event.

“I talk with them and hang with them every time I?m there. So I?ve always had this sort of love of the Knicks, just because Amar?e is so cool,” said Swift.

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Furthermore, she added that she performed at the Knicks’ Kids Talent Competition when she was about 12-13 years old. The competition was held at the Madison Square Garden during the halftime. Since then, Swift has had a ‘sparkly, magical’ opinion of the team for letting her sing when she was just a kid. The six-time NBA All-Star retired from the NBA in 2016 after playing for 14 seasons.