Kevin Maurice Garnett is one of the best Minnesota Timberwolves and one of the best Boston Celtics in the history of both of these franchises. Garnett will always be a fixture in NBA history for his tremendous play throughout three different decades. His career began as the No. 5 overall selection in the 1995 NBA draft after he was a McDonald’s All-American at Farragut Career Academy in Chicago.
KG, who also had nicknames like “The Big Ticket,” “The Kid,” and “The Franchise,” was such an impressive player that he made the National Basketball Association’s 75th Anniversary Team. A 15-time all-star, Kevin Garnett made 12 All-Defensive Teams, nine All-NBA teams, and won the 2008 NBA championship with the Boston Celtics. On March 13, 2022, the Celtics are retiring Garnett’s No. 5 jersey to the rafters above the TD Garden parquet.
Garnett provided rim-rocking highlights for both the Timberwolves and Celtics. KG played his first 12 seasons in Minnesota. After the Big Ticket called Target Center his home from 1995 to 2007, Timberwolves executive — and former Celtic — Kevin McHale worked out a trade with his old Boston teammate Danny Ainge. The blockbuster deal sent Kevin Garnett to Boston, and there, he won the championship with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. In 2020, Kevin Garnett was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Kevin Garnett – High School Basketball Career
Kevin Garnett played high school basketball in Mauldin, South Carolina, and Chicago, Illinois. He did not play organized basketball prior to high school, but he still was a standout. Garnett began at Mauldin High School, where he was South Carolina Mr. Basketball in 1994, and then transferred to Farragut Career Academy for his senior year of high school. At Farragut, he had 25.2 points, 17.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 6.5 blocks per game and was the National High School Player of the Year and Illinois Mr. Basketball.
After shooting better than 66 percent during his senior year, he then went on to be the Most Outstanding Player at the McDonald’s All-American Game. Garnett scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the exhibition contest. Then, after entering into the 1995 NBA Draft, the big man was selected fifth overall by the Timberwolves, who had been in existence for just six years.
Kevin Garnett – Minnesota Timberwolves
Kevin Garnett has been by far the best player in Minnesota Timberwolves history, and his NBA career began in 1995-96 with an inauspicious start. Head coach Bill Blair started the season, but he was nowhere near close to finishing it. After Blair posted a 21-61 record during his first year as the team’s head coach (1994-95), the Wolves gave him one more shot. After his 6-14 start in his first season with Garnett, the Timberwolves fired him. Then, KG was fortunate to be coached by the best coach in Wolves franchise history, Flip Saunders. It was a true bond created between Garnett and Saunders, and Flip would go on to be the only coach to win triple-digit games for Minnesota.
Garnett, who owns practically half of the team’s franchise records, would lead the Wolves to their first playoff berth in franchise history in 1997. Unfortunately, it was the first of six consecutive first-round exits in the Western Conference playoffs for Minnesota. Kevin Garnett would be the team’s top player every year from his second season to the end of his Wolves career in 2006-07.
Kevin Garnett – 2004 Most Valuable Player
The Wolves’ best season in franchise history, the 58-24 season in 2003-04, came in Garnett’s MVP year. The season is Minnesota’s greatest one by seven wins and by a winning percentage of .085. The Wolves were the Midwest Division champions, as they edged out the defending NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. Kevin Garnett played every game during the season and totaled the most points and rebounds of any player.
This season is the only one in Wolves history with a divisional finish in the first or second spot. The ’03-04 Wolves, with the Big Ticket, Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell, and Wally Szczerbiak, were one of the league’s best offensive and defensive teams. They had very strong shooters and had Fred Hoiberg’s 44 percent shooting from distance, which ranked fourth in the NBA.
The Wolves were so close to the NBA Finals in 2004. They dispatched the Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round, which finally ended the franchise’s dreaded first-round loss streak. Kevin Garnett then cemented a six-game series victory in the second round with a series-clinching 32 points and 21 rebounds.
It was truly an impressive postseason performance by the 2003-04 MVP, as KG led the NBA in rebounding (14.6 per game) and was third in scoring (24.3 points per game) in the playoffs. However, they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. Garnett’s Minnesota Timberwolves teammate Sam Cassell had a great 2003-04 season, but his back injury was one of the main reasons that the Wolves fell short against the Lakers. Cassell’s only all-star season came in ’03-04, as Saunders coached the All-Star Game and Kevin Garnett started. That three-man group almost went to the NBA Finals in 2004. Later in their careers though, KG and Cassell would become teammates again in Boston.
Kevin Garnett’s Wolves put up a valiant effort in 2004, but it was not enough. It was the first of four consecutive seasons that he would be the rebounding champion. He is among the best rebounders to play the game of basketball. Let us take a look at how he dominated the boards.
Kevin Garnett – Rebounding Dominance
Not only was Kevin Garnett a scoring machine, but he could not be stopped on the glass. His 14,662 rebounds in his career were the 10th-most, and his 11,453 defensive rebounds are the most in NBA history. His defensive rebounding efforts were part of a tremendous defensive career for KG, who was on the All-Defensive First Team in every season from 1999-2000 to 2004-05.
He was not just a great rebounder in the regular season, but he could get it done in the postseason. He had a rollercoaster playoff career, but his rebounding should not be discounted. His 26.9 defensive rebounding percentage is the seventh-best all-time. Kevin Garnett always made an impression on the game whenever he played, and his NBA career will always be remembered for his rebounding and his patented silky smooth jump shot.
Kevin Garnett – Boston Celtics
In 2007, Kevin Garnett’s time as a Timberwolve ended. For the first time in his career, he was a part of a trade. The Celtics sent what appeared to be their entire roster — or at least the majority of their young players — to Minnesota for Garnett. The centerpiece of the deal for KG was big man Al Jefferson as well as two first-round picks, which unfortunately for Wolves fans, turned out to be Wayne Ellington and Jonny Flynn.
For the Celtics, Kevin Garnett was the perfect player that exuded Celtic pride immediately. Boston was a basketball franchise that had not tasted a championship since 1986, and he was the last piece of the puzzle to put Doc Rivers’ Celtics into the upper echelon of the NBA. From 1995 to 2007, Garnett only knew what it was to be a Timberwolves’ power forward, but it was time for him to compete for a championship.
Kevin Garnett – 2008 NBA Championship
Compete for a championship, he did. The Celtics fans were embracing Kevin Garnett immediately as he, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen — accompanied by Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins — jumped out to a 20-2 start. The Celtics were the beasts of the East, and they could not be stopped. They won 10 games in a row in March, and soon after that streak, the Celtics stopped the Rockets’ 22-game winning streak with a 20-point victory.
Garnett, the eventual 2008 Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), made his return to the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team. It would be the first of three All-Defensive First Team selections as a Celtic. He even finished third in MVP voting that season.
As the DPOY, Kevin Garnett became the fourth player in league history to have won both a Most Valuable Player trophy and a Defensive Player of the Year award. Only five NBA players have accomplished the feat ever, with Giannis Antetokounmpo being the most recent player. David Robinson, Michael Jordan, and Hakeem Olajuwon are the others.
The ’07-08 Celtics entered the postseason with a 66-16 record, by far the best in the NBA. The Celtics’ New Big Three of Pierce, Garnett, and Allen got a boost when — near the end of the season — the team brought in veterans P.J. Brown and Sam Cassell, KG’s former Minnesota Timberwolves teammate. The green went to seven games in the first and second rounds of the playoffs. Then, it was time for the C’s to turn on the jets. Boston beat the Detroit Pistons in six games and then took down Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers en route to Boston’s banner number 18. The Celtics were on the top of the NBA world yet again.
Boston’s Trade of Garnett and Pierce Trade to Brooklyn
The next few years for the Celtics were filled with plenty of ups, as they made another NBA Finals. However, injuries to an aging core prevented Boston from winning a second title, so it was time for the Celtics to move on and rebuild.
Boston sent Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for a gargantuan number of draft picks, which led to the selections of the Celtics’ new core known as the “Jays” — Jaylen Brown (2016) and Jayson Tatum (2017).
It was unfortunate that Garnett could not get another title with the Celtics, but what he, Pierce, Allen, head coach Doc Rivers, and company shared will always be remembered. Rivers loves to recount the story of leaving money in the ceiling at Staples Center, as he guaranteed that the Celtics would return for the NBA Finals. That they did.
Kevin Garnett – Brooklyn Nets
Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and company finished 44-38 with Jason Kidd as the team’s head coach. They defeated the then-tortured Toronto Raptors franchise in seven games in the first round. Then, the eventual Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat proved to be too much for the Nets. Brooklyn lost in five games.
For Garnett and Pierce, it was one last hurrah as teammates with the Nets in 2013-14. Pierce became a Wizard for 2014-15 and meanwhile, Terry went to Houston for the following season. KG played about one and a half seasons with Brooklyn, and then in February 2015, the Nets traded KG back to Minnesota for Thaddeus Young. Now, it was KG’s time for his own one true last hurrah in Minnesota.
Kevin Garnett – Second Stint with Minnesota
With the trade to Minnesota, Kevin Garnett and Flip Saunders were reunited as player and head coach. Saunders, who was an advisor for the Celtics in 2012, returned for one season as the Timberwolves head coach in 2014-15. Garnett mentored players while he was in Minnesota, and then, unfortunately, Saunders passed away in October 2015.
Kevin Garnett – Post-NBA Life
Kevin Garnett then retired in 2016. Garnett was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020, the first year he was eligible. In 2021, Garnett released both a documentary on Showtime and an autobiography that was published by Simon & Schuster. Kevin Garnett, the player with arguably the most passion of anyone to ever play the game, was one of the best players in NBA history.
Kevin Garnett – Net Worth
Kevin Garnett is an NBA star who has a reported net worth of around $120 million. He has earned this wealth primarily through his basketball career, as well as endorsement deals and investments. He is one of the highest earning NBA players of all time and is considered to be one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history.
How did the Celtics get Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett?
On July 31, 2007, the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves made one of the most consequential trades in NBA history. The Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett from the Timberwolves in exchange for Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, and two 2009 first-round picks. This blockbuster trade formed a “Big Three” in Boston, with Garnett joining Paul Pierce and Ray Allen in the C’s lineup. The move paid immediate dividends as the Celtics won the NBA Championship in 2008, their first title in 22 years. Garnett was named the NBA Finals MVP, and the Big Three cemented their legacy as one of the greatest trios in NBA history.
Are the Celtics still paying Kevin Garnett?
In 2015-16, Kevin Garnett played his last season in the NBA. Three years later, he was still on the payroll of the Boston Celtics. Though he finished his playing career with the Brooklyn Nets and the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Celtics still owe him $35 million. The money is paid out in annual installments of $5 million, and Garnett is scheduled to receive payments until 2021-22, seven years after he retired from the NBA. Given that most players only receive their full salary during their playing careers, Garnett is a rare case.
How many rings does Kevin Garnett have?
Kevin Garnett has one NBA Championship ring. He won his only ring during the 2007-2008 season playing for the Boston Celtics. That year, the Celtics had an incredible 66-16 record during the regular season. They went on to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals that year, giving Garnett his first and only championship ring.
