--- title: Watch: Taylor Swift Congratulates NBA MVP Russell Westbrook description: Taylor Swift made a rare appearance on social media to congratulate NBA MVP trophy award winner Russell Westbrook. canonical: https://time.com/4834763/taylor-swift-on-russell-westbrook-video/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-27T15:06:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:54.927Z og:title: Watch: Taylor Swift Congratulates NBA MVP Russell Westbrook og:description: Taylor Swift made a rare appearance on social media to congratulate the NBA star og:url: https://time.com/4834763/taylor-swift-on-russell-westbrook-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e1637b25e958291/6988d1077cdbac6bf5d58b4a/taylor-swift-returns-streaming-services-katy-perry-album-release.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Taylor Swift Performs At Circuit Of The Americas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: Taylor Swift Congratulates NBA MVP Russell Westbrook twitter:description: Taylor Swift made a rare appearance on social media to congratulate the NBA star twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e1637b25e958291/6988d1077cdbac6bf5d58b4a/taylor-swift-returns-streaming-services-katy-perry-album-release.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Taylor Swift Reminisce About the Time Russell Westbrook Inspired 'Shake It Off' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Karen Mizoguchi / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Karen Mizoguchi / People Contributor Jun 27, 2017 3:06 PM UTC  AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 22: Taylor Swift performs her only full concert of 2016 during the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on October 22, 2016 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Gary Miller/FilmMagic,) AUSTIN, TEXAS - OCTOBER 22: Taylor Swift performs her only full concert of 2016 during the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on October 22, 2016 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Gary Miller/FilmMagic,) Gary Miller—FilmMagic, by [Karen Mizoguchi / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Karen Mizoguchi / People Contributor Jun 27, 2017 3:06 PM UTC [Russell Westbrook](http://people.com/babies/russell-westbrook-welcomes-son-noah-russell/) can now sing “You Belong With Me” to his [NBA MVP trophy](https://www.si.com/nba/2017/06/26/okc-thunder-russell-westbrook-mvp), and [Taylor Swift](http://people.com/tag/taylor-swift/) even made a rare appearance on social media to congratulate him. “Remember I was the one who taught you to play basketball. I was the one who taught you to dribble, to shoot hoops,” the singer, 27, joked in a pre-recorded video that was shared on Monday by Westbrook’s team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, following the announcement at the inaugural NBA Awards. “I remember the first time you beat me at basketball. I was very upset, and you said… ‘You just have to shake it off,’ ” Swift continued. > [](https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/879540681718550529) Concluding, “So essentially we have each other to thank for these careers. That’s why I’m a part of your congratulations video, because we just, we go back 20 years. Actually, we’ve never met. That’s a fake story, but I wish it were the truth.” And the adoration appears to be mutual as Westbrook, 28, has previously shared he’s a fan of Swift’s music. In June 2013, he made a Vine video of him singing along to Swift’s single “22,” and in May 2015 he proved he’s a major Swiftie by karaoking to her hit “Bad Blood.” Furthermore, the basketball star was head bobbing away at her Los Angeles concert in August 2015. On Monday, Westbrook beat at fellow MVP nominees Kawhi Leonard and James Harden. Meanwhile, Swift has kept a low-profile away from the spotlight as of late. In addition, the “Shake It Off” singer has been purposely keeping her new [relationship with actor Joe Alwyn under wraps](http://people.com/music/taylor-swift-dating-joe-alwyn-learned-from-past-private/). The Grammy winner and the actor are longtime friends, and Swift was first spotted publicly with Alwyn last fall after attending a Kings of Leon concert with a group of her pals. _This_ [_article_](http://people.com/music/taylor-swift-russell-westbrook-video/) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://people.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4834763/taylor-swift-on-russell-westbrook-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4834763/taylor-swift-on-russell-westbrook-video/"},"headline":"Watch Taylor Swift Reminisce About the Time Russell Westbrook Inspired 'Shake It Off'","datePublished":"2017-06-27T15:06:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:54.927Z","description":"Taylor Swift made a rare appearance on social media to congratulate the NBA star","url":"https://time.com/4834763/taylor-swift-on-russell-westbrook-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music","onetime","Sports","apester"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e1637b25e958291/6988d1077cdbac6bf5d58b4a/taylor-swift-returns-streaming-services-katy-perry-album-release.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Karen Mizoguchi / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e1637b25e958291/6988d1077cdbac6bf5d58b4a/taylor-swift-returns-streaming-services-katy-perry-album-release.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Taylor Swift Performs At Circuit Of The Americas","caption":"Taylor Swift Performs At Circuit Of The Americas","creditText":"Gary Miller—FilmMagic,","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4834763/taylor-swift-on-russell-westbrook-video/","name":"Watch Taylor Swift Reminisce About the Time Russell Westbrook Inspired 'Shake It Off'"}}]}] ```