How Beyoncé helped Kevin Garnett become the NBA's top trash-talker

March 1 (UPI) -- His mouth was almost as menacing as his never-ending limbs during Kevin Garnett's 21-year NBA career.

But you would probably never guess how he learned to trash-talk, while exuding maximum effort on the defensive end of the basketball court.

The 2007 Defensive Player of the Year and 2003 NBA MVP owes that to Beyoncé.

Garnett, now a consultant for the Los Angeles Clippers, told guard J.J. Redick about how 'Queen Bey' transformed him from an average motor mouth, to a Hall of Fame gabber. Redick relayed the story on the Bill Simmons Podcast.

"One time I saw her working out, and she was doing her dances and she was singing while she was doing her dancing," Garnett told Redick. "So then I'm thinking to myself, maybe I should run and sing at the same time. So in the offseason, I would go to Malibu and I would go down to the beach, and when I run on the beach I would be like 'Lalala lalala lalala,' while I'm running. So then, when I get on the court and I'm getting back on defense and I'm talking on defense, I don't get tired."

The 40-year-old won an NBA Championship with the 2007-2008 Boston Celtics. His coach that year was current Clippers coach Doc Rivers. Former Big-3 teammate Paul Pierce also now plays for the Clippers.

"It just was different," Garnett told NBA.com. "We [Celtics] had a practice, and after practice we went to New York for an exhibition. We went to go to dinner. I called Paul, Ray [Allen], to come down and go to dinner. They came down and we ran into a couple guys....We were always together. The connection was there. We were like brothers."

Garnett retired in September after earning 15 All-Star nods and 12-time All-Defensive team selections. He averaged 17.8 points and 10 assists per game for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Celtics, and Brooklyn Nets.