In 2007 the Minnesota Timberwolves and Kevin Garnett reached a point in their relationship that was way past return. KG was at his breaking point with the T-Wolves and it was time for him to move on from Minnesota. ‘The Big Ticket’ was eventually sent to the Boston Celtics and he won his first and only NBA championship in 2008 alongside Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. They instilled a new ‘Big 3’ era that would be answered by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat and other teams have tried it since then.
As KG’s career comes full circle with his return to the Timberwolves at the end of his career, out come all the stories. Including this interesting story of Garnett almost being sent to play alongside Kobe Bryant. The 2 former High School phenoms turned NBA legends were basically going to play together until Boston swooped in and stole KG right from Los Angeles.
Following is how the almost-trade went down from Phil Jackson, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, and Garnett’s agent, Andy Miller, brought to us by Howard Beck at Bleacher Report. (Who did a wonderful oral history of Kevin Garnett’s career.)
Phil Jackson, Lakers head coach, 1999-2004; 2005-2011: When I realized that [Garnett] was available and wanted to leave Minnesota, I put a big push on (to acquire him).
Andy Miller: Cleveland was involved. They were a distant third in the whole thing.
Glen Taylor: L.A. really wanted him. Well, I didn’t know if I wanted him in the West. I thought I was getting better players. I thought L.A could not give me the players that Boston did.
The Lakers offered a package built around multi-skilled forward Lamar Odom and 19-year-old center Andrew Bynum, a promising second-year player who would eventually become an All-Star. Odom had a history of flaky behavior, however, and Bynum was unproven.
The Celtics’ package was built around another talented, but still-developing young center, Al Jefferson, along with several other young players and draft picks.
Phil Jackson: Dr. [Jerry] Buss came to me and said, “I have a handshake agreement with Taylor, that he’s going to come to L.A. But McHale hasn’t concurred yet.” So I said, “Well that’s a good excuse.” You always, as an owner, say, “I’ll do this, but …” So I kept that hope out there, that he was gonna be a part of the Laker organization.
Glen Taylor: Odom, I was a little afraid of. I thought Bynum was gonna be a star.
Andy Miller: I think that what McHale was looking for, on top of picks, was a core young piece, and he was infatuated with Al Jefferson at the time.
Glen Taylor: It became the Lakers, and it became Boston. And they both said, what does [Garnett] want to get paid? And I told them what he wants to get paid. I told them the kind of contract. And those two teams said they would do it.
Just imagine what a Lakers team would look like if it had KG and Kobe on it. Just those 2 guys alone is enough for great quotes and in-game action. Many would’ve loved to see that happen.
