NBA swingman Jerry Stackhouse has twice performed the National Anthem before Mavericks home games, and once during the Bucks 2010 playoff appearance.
On April 25, 2003, during a game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Dallas Mavericks, Maurice Cheeks, coach of Trail Blazers, aided 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert in singing the National anthem. After Gilbert forgot the words at "At the twilight's last gleaming", Cheeks rushed over to help her and they finished it together, as the entire Rose Garden Arena crowd sang with them. Cheeks and Gilbert received a standing ovation after the song was over.
The late former NBA player Wayman Tisdale was a smooth jazz bassist. He launched his music career with Power Forward in 1995 on the Motown Label. He recorded eight albums, with the 2001 release Face to Face climbing to No. 1 on Billboard's contemporary jazz chart. In 2002, he was awarded the Legacy Tribute Award by the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame. In an ESPN internet chat, Tisdale said his musical influences include funk bands of the 1970s. His most recent release, Rebound, was written and released after he had been diagnosed with cancer.