When's the last time you heard Brian McKnight's name? Be honest. For many, they heard it anew on Sunday night (May 20). Yes, the Billboard Music Awards were taking place and drawing in a national audience, but that's not where the R&B singer was. Instead, he was at the Golden State Warriors game, jamming out to the national anthem before Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals commenced. Compared to the other reason celebrities sometimes trend on Twitter these days, this seemed like a pure reason to see McKnight's name again.

Golden State gets national anthem right

Turning to Brian McKnight to sing the national anthem before the game against the Houston Rockets may feel random on the surface. And frankly, there may not be much more to it than that. After all, it's not like he was born in Oakland - he was born in Buffalo, New York, almost as far away as possible in the contiguous United States. Scouring Google doesn't provide any better answers for his ties to the Warriors. Alas, nobody would've given it a second thought as long as he performed the anthem better than Fergie did at the All-Star Game.

Prior to his awesome performance, fans also contributed to a moment of silence on behalf of the lives lost at the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas on Friday night (May 18), an event that hit close to home for many members of the Houston Rockets.

Prior to Sunday, McKnight performed the national anthem for at least two other games involving the Warriors. One was against the Los Angeles Clippers, while the other was against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Oddly enough, those were both road games for Golden State.

What's McKnight up to these days?

McKnight is best known for his work in the R&B genre.

He's been nominated for 16 Grammy Awards, although he's never won one to this point in his illustrious career. As he nears 50 years old, however, he has shown no signs of slowing down. Last year was a fairly big one for him. He released his 13th studio album, "Genesis," which spawned several hits on the Urban AC charts. At the end of the year, he got hitched to Leilani Mendoza.

To start out 2018, he was nominated for a couple of NAACP Image Awards, based on the work he did on "Genesis."

Brian McKnight's star has somewhat faded since the heights of his career, but he's still a very relevant figure in the R&B genre. Bringing him out to perform the national anthem at the Warriors game was a neat trick for the team before a big contest.