The Longstanding Relationship Between Taylor Swift And Russell Westbrook Is Beautiful And Makes No Sense

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Russell Westbrook, 2017 NBA MVP, and the first player since Oscar Robertson to average a triple-double for a season, is a hardcore Swiftie.

After winning the award for 2017 NBA MVP, Russell was congratulated by Taylor Swift on the Oklahoma City Thunder Twitter page. The singer emerged from a musical hiatus away from the public eye to record a sweet video relating a playful, fictional story of twenty years of friendship to congratulate Westbrook on his historical win.

On one hand, it’s pretty amazing that someone who is a major player (some would say “the best player”) in his field can show such unabashed appreciation for another artist, who is also extremely successful in her own world, and that she would return the favor. On the other hand, it seems so unlikely and bizarre that these two folks, with very little in common, would be so enthusiastic about showing each other love on social media.

Except, this wasn’t the first time the two traded social media appreciation. They have had a pretty substantial history of shout-outs and acknowledgement going back to at least 2013.

See below for a timeline of this unlikely but amazing bond of mutual appreciation.

2013: Westbrook Plays Guitar As A Crutch, Introducing His Taylor Fandom

While recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery in the summer of 2013, Russell posted a clip to his Vine account, singing Taylor’s “Stay Stay Stay” while strumming his crutch like a guitar. Never forget the other Red cut that Westbrook is forever tied to, thanks to this hilarious fan-made mashup.

2015: Westbrook Rocks Out To “Bad Blood”

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BAD BLOOD!!!! @taylorswift .. Banger!!!!!

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“Bad Blood” was a massive smash in 2015, so it’s no surprise that Westbrook would have rocked out to the song, but in May he took his fandom to another level by posting a video to his Instagram, singing along to the percussive jam while sitting in his car. He gave quite a performance as well, good enough to draw the attention of Swift herself, who responded on Twitter that he’d made her night.

2015: Russ Hits Staples Center For Taylor’s Concert

Westbrook he posted yet another video to his Instagram rocking out to Swift’s music, this time from his primo Staples Center floor seats at Taylor’s L.A. stop on her 1989 promo tour. No backstage meet and greet made it to the ‘Gram, but hey, who knows… some things are better left offline.

2015: Russell Reveals His Pregame Ritual To Jimmy Kimmel

In September, after being played onstage by Kimmel’s band to the tune of “Shake It Off,” Westbrook shared his appreciation for Swift yet again, describing her music as “catchy,” and explaining that it has become a part of his pregame ritual, along with a phone call to his parents and delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

2016: Russell Takes His Swift Appreciation To Snapchat

Russell must really love the chorus of “We are never, ever, ever getting back together,” as he posted yet another video singing along to it a year to the day of his appearance at Staples Center, this time to Snapchat.

2016: Russell Has A Lot Of Favorite Swift Songs

On his Reddit AMA, Westbrook fielded a question about his favorite Taylor Swift song. His reply: “I like a lot of her songs — I have a lot of favorites of T. Swift.”

2017: Taylor Sends Congratulations To Westbrook After MVP Win

Lest this list get too one-sided, here is Taylor’s congratulatory video for Westbrook, in which she relates his hilarious, fictional role in inspiring “Shake It Off,” and teaches him to play basketball.

Ironically, while Westbrook’s Taylor Swift appreciation has garnered all the attention, he’s far from her only fan in the NBA, as shown by this Snapchat video of Jimmy Butler singing along to “22.” Undoubtedly, there are many more, but just like his play on-court, no one has done it quite like Westbrook.

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