Kevin Garnett Spotted at Clippers Camp, Has Offer to Join Cavs Coaching Staff

Kevin Garnett is less than a week into retirement and he’s already back on the basketball court. He joins fellow 2016 retiree Tim Duncan as players who just can’t get away from the court. While Tim Duncan has a role on the Spurs as ‘coach of whatever he feels like’, Garnett’s role with the new team he’s been working with is unclear.

KG was spotted at the Los Angeles Clippers practice today on the campus of UC-Irvine. The former NBA MVP has an established relationship with Doc Rivers and Paul Pierce dating back to their days on the Celtics together and he has received some high praise from Chris Paul in the past.

While it appears ‘The Big Ticket’ might just be working out with the team, which is great for the Clippers, head coach and team President Doc Rivers took it a step further. He has an open offer for Garnett to join the team, his role unclear.

But it appears that Rivers isn’t the only one looking to add KG to their organization. Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue also has a great relationship with Garnett. He once played a role in helping Kevin avoid a fight with Carmelo Anthony, so they have a little history also dating back to Garnett’s days on the Celtics.

That relationship they have prompted Lue to say that Garnett has an open invitation to not only attend the Cavs opening night ring ceremony but also join their coaching staff.

Following from Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said that Kevin Garnett, who retired from the Minnesota Timberwolves after 21 seasons last week, is welcome to join his coaching staff.

“I talked to him about it,” Lue said after Cavs practice Thursday. “I know his wife is pushing for it a lot. Brandi is pushing for it, trying to get him to come and coach. He says he’s not ready yet. He goes back — ‘I might do it’ — but he’s back and forth. We’ll see. But I’d definitely make a spot for him if he wanted to come back and coach.”

“He’s one of my best friends,” Lue said of Garnett.

“Didn’t want to see him do it,” Lue said of Garnett’s retirement. “I thought he would’ve been the first player in NBA history to play in his teens, 20s, 30s and 40s. He just turned 40 in May. I just thought that would’ve been great for him.”

…Garnett could always serve in an unofficial capacity, or simply spend time visiting with the team as he plans to do when the Cavs host the Knicks and receive their championship rings on Oct. 25.

“He’ll be here for sure,” Lue said. “I know he’s coming to opening night to the rings ceremony. I know he’ll be here for that and he says he’ll be around a lot. We’ll see.”

Garnett left a lot to be desired when he officially announced his retirement in an instagram video but it appears he might not be running away from the game with his millions of dollars as many would expect. The man spent more years of his life in the NBA than out of it and it just might be something that flows through his blood. But no matter what KG decides to do, when it comes to joining either the Cavs or Clippers in one way or another, it will most likely be a very entertaining thing to watch.