Basketball fans know that Jimmy Butler is perhaps the most enthusiastic country music stan in the NBA. So, when he popped in during a recent NBA On TNT Postgame Show, the studio analysts decided to razz him about it. Little did they know, however, that it would lead to a stamp of approval from one of country’s biggest stars: Taylor Swift.
At one point, the analysts were tasked with rating an old video of Butler singing and dancing along with Swift’s Red hit “22.” As the clip played, Butler exclaimed, “Y’all need to stay off my Instagram or wherever you got this from.” Butler suppressed a smile and shook his head as everybody laughed and Dwayne Wade gave the video a 9 out of 10 rating, which pleased Butler.
Well, Swift herself caught wind of the video and decided to offer her own rating. The score she gave Butler is bound to please the Swiftie in him, as she responded to the clip, “13/10,” followed by a smiling cat emoji.
13/10 😺
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) February 19, 2021
Butler’s love of country music is well-documented. In September, he was a guest DJ for SiriusXM’s The Highway channel. Back when Butler was with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he defended his post-game locker room music choice from Karl-Anthony Towns’ criticisms. He’s also struck up a friendship with Luke Bryan and starred in his 2017 video for “Light It Up.” The pair also played basketball together in a 2015 video on Bryan’s YouTube channel.