LOOKBACK: How the Timberwolves stained Kevin Garnett’s career

 

 

MANILA, Philippines – Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan are two of the greatest basketball players of all time. 

They not only share that similarity in a general sense, but even under a more specific light.

Being two of the best players to ever play the power forward position, the two both won a Most Valuable Player award in their primes and got selected to multiple All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defense Team appearances while both wearing the No. 21.

Fittingly, the two legends were both inducted in the same Hall of Fame class this year along with the late Kobe Bryant.

 

 

 

 

However, that is where the similarities end for the two transcendent basketball talents. 

Although Garnett won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008, Duncan dwarfs him in the title discussion with 5 rings to show off in his resume. 

Because of this, Garnett is largely not considered to be on par with Duncan and has been criticized at times for wanting to be traded away from the Minnesota Timberwolves to create a Boston superteam. 

But one man cannot win it all in basketball, and Garnett shouldn’t be faulted for a lack of trying. 

Instead, it was the Wolves management who let “The Big Ticket” draw their tickets for 12 years straight with little to no help added by his side.

 

 

 

 

In his 14-year career with the Wolves, Garnett had a total of 3 teammates who became All-Stars while playing with him. Stephon Marbury became an All-Star as well, but he only became one after leaving Minnesota for the New York Knicks. 

For comparison, Duncan had David Robinson, Sean Elliot, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard play with him in his 19-year tenure with the San Antonio Spurs.

All of these All-Stars were found through the draft and trained under legendary coach Gregg Popovich.

Meanwhile, the Timberwolves’ picks were forfeited by the NBA from 2001 to 2005 after the league discovered that Wolves team owner Glen Taylor colluded with 1995 first overall pick Joe Smith regarding his contracts. 

This came at a time when Garnett ate up a majority of the team’s cap space after signing a then-unprecedented six-year, $126 million deal back in 1997. 

With no means of signing big-name free-agents due to Garnett’s deserved salary and no draft picks to build with due to the Smith contract scandal, the Wolves ultimately enjoyed their last big playoff push in 2004. 

After Garnett left, Minnesota would not make the playoffs again until 14 years later in 2018, with Jimmy Butler and top draft pick Karl-Anthony Towns at the lead.

To this day, the Wolves have not yet retired Garnett’s No. 21 jersey due to a rift between him and Taylor. 

Untimely death

Before the legendary head coach and team president Flip Saunders died of lymphoma in 2015, Taylor entertained the idea of Garnett becoming a minority owner of the franchise.

However, Taylor apparently broke off the idea after Saunders’ untimely death, which Garnett took personally. 

The outspoken star ultimately called Taylor a “snake” and refuses any association with him as long as he owns the team. 

“Glen and I had an understanding before Flip died, and when Flip died, that understanding went with Flip,” Garnett told The Athletic.

“For that, I won’t forgive Glen. I won’t forgive him for that. I thought he was a straight-up person, straight-up businessman, and when Flip died, everything went with him.” 

Time and again, Taylor and the Timberwolves management failed to give their biggest superstar in franchise history what he truly deserved – from teammates to team stocks.

This just goes to show that loyalty is a two-way street. When it only comes from one side and rarely from the other, that’s just martyrdom. When it goes both ways, to quote Garnett himself, anything is possible.

“The Big Ticket” saw all of this coming and booked a ride to “greener” pastures. – Rappler.com