Getty Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Boston Celtics
Kevin Garnett had a Hall of Fame career and has gone down in history as a legend of two franchises. Both the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves adore “The Big Ticket” due to his ferocious on-court demeanor and ability to galvanize his teammates.
Garnett was the perfect competitor. Relentless in his pursuit of victory while holding his teammates accountable for their level of professionalism and commitment. “He’s a great player. Everybody knows that. But as a teammate? They don’t come any better than KG,” Chauncey Billups said during an interview with NBC Sports Boston.
Unfortunately, Garnett’s intense desire to win wasn’t satisfied during his time with the Timberwolves, which ultimately led him to Boston during the summer of 2007. Of course, what happened during the following season is now common knowledge, as the Celtics big-three hoisted a banner into the rafters, and Garnett’s decision to leave the Timberwolves was justified.
Yet, an unknown part to Garnett’s story was how close he came to joining other teams around the league, most notably the Los Angeles Lakers, before signing with the Celtics.
“Garnett had reservations about playing in Boston, even after speaking to Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. That’s partly because before he made a final decision, he wanted to talk with Kobe. The only problem: Bryant was touring China for Nike and, from Garnett’s point of view, couldn’t be bothered to discuss a future as teammates,” Michael Pina wrote following a recent interview with Garnett for GQ Magazine.
.@KevinGarnett5KG looks back on his Hall of Fame career, from the hyper-intense competitiveness to the line-crossing trash talk, and finds little to regret t.co/pYghvbD1f1
However, it would seem that the Lakers weren’t the only team in the running for Garnett’s signature during that fateful off-season.
Garnett Almost Was Traded to the Warriors
Since hanging up his basketball sneakers, Matt Barnes has carved out a successful career as podcast host and media personality, with the “All The Smoke” podcast becoming universally enjoyed by basketball fans. Yet, on Draymond Green’s podcast, Barnes made a shocking revelation:
We were supposed to trade Jason Richardson, and our lottery pick that we had—I’m not sure it was lottery … but we were supposed to trade J-Rich and our pick to get Kevin Garnett. So that was, I had heard rumors, but I was not sure until I had KG on the show, and we really got into it when he was here the other day. We were supposed to get Kevin Garnett that year, basically, for Jason Richardson.
We would have added Kevin Garnett to that young team. It was funny, we were over here talking the other day, and he was like, ‘You guys were young and wild and off the court, wild, too, and I loved your energy. But I don’t know if I could have hung with y’all.’ It was funny just to hear it from his mouth.
Barnes continued by explaining that Garnett was deciding on accepting a trade from Minnesota to one of three teams during the summer of 2007: “He said his three teams were, as he called it, ‘that team in Oakland,’ the Lakers and the Celtics. He obviously ended up going to the Celtics and winning a championship.”
A Tale of Three Teams
The 2007-08 NBA season had very different outcomes for the three teams vying for Garnett’s signature.
Of course, the Celtics won a championship, the Lakers made the Finals and lost in six games, but the Golden State Warriors failed to make the playoffs despite a 48-34 record.
That year’s Warriors roster boasted Baron Davis, Monta Ellis, Stephen Jackson, and Matt Barnes. Still, without a true competitor such as Garnett, the team could not solidify a place within the Western Conference’s elite.
Looking back, Garnett may have been the missing piece for the Warriors, but there’s no telling how a competitor of that level would have meshed with a young and wild roster. It makes sense then that Garnett chose to take his talents to Boston, where he would team up with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, two older veterans who were all chasing championship glory at pivotal moments in their careers.
As for the Lakers, they did just fine, winning championships in 2009 and 2010, but you have to wonder if Garnett’s presence sees them win in 2008 and “three-peat” as a result. However, all of this is revisionist history. While it’s fun to play the “What If” game and sketch out multiple versions of how the league would have shaken out, the only thing we can be confident of is that Garnett would have won a championship one way or another.
He was too talented and too driven not to.