Wearing a Spurs jersey, Texas native Mickey Guyton sang the U.S. national anthem at game five of the 2026 NBA Finals Saturday night (June 13). The game had the San Antonio Spurs in their hometown, playing the New York Knicks at Frost Bank Center.
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The country singer — a four-time Grammy nominee who’s no stranger to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” having notably performed it at the Super Bowl a few years ago — put her natural twang into a powerful vocal delivery that had her hitting a triumphant high note on “free” in the last line of the national anthem.
Born in Arlington, Texas, Guyton’s personal connection to the national anthem runs deep — it was a mesmerizing performance by a very young LeAnn Rimes at a Texas Rangers game, when both Guyton and Rimes were just kids, that inspired her to pursue a music career. “Our church had drove from Waco to Arlington to see a Texas Rangers game,” she recalled to Billboard in an interview back in 2015. “I’ll never forget it. We were all the way in the nosebleed section, and I wasn’t more than 8 or 9 years old. The announcer came on the PA and said, ‘Here is 10-year-old LeAnn Rimes performing the national anthem.’ I thought, ’10? She’s 10?’ Then, she starts singing, and she sounds like a grown woman. It was so bittersweet because I wanted to do that. I was so envious of her.”
Guyton’s latest album release is her sophomore full-length studio set, 2024’s House on Fire, which was led by the single “Nothing Compares to You” featuring Kane Brown.
She recently performed at the 51st annual Gracies Awards Gala, presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF). The May event, held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., honored actress Andie MacDowell and was hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown.
Watch Guyton’s performance of the national anthem at Saturday’s Spurs vs. Knicks game below.
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