He became the first player drafted out of high school in nearly a decade, but became an example for the sport’s future superstars such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Tracy McGrady, who joined the league without playing college basketball.
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The Wolves’ acquisition of Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell finally got Garnett out of the first round in 2004, but after a run to the Western Conference Finals, Minnesota went into decline, and it was a trade to Boston in 2007 that helped Garnett finally get that elusive title. In 2015, he returned to Minnesota and played last season.
Garnett told the Minnesota Timberwolves that he was retiring on Friday.
Kevin Garnett, the 15-time NBA all-star, 2004 MVP, Olympic gold medal victor and NBA champion in 2008, is retiring from basketball, ending what is no doubt a career destined for the Hall of Fame. Before Garnett, the idea that players could skip college was considered nonsensical; after, it was considered received wisdom, to the point where the National Basketball Association had to institute rules forcing players to have a gap year of some kind to keep the NCAA racket going.
Garnett leaves Minnesota, for a second time, having played 970 of his career 1,462 games here, having scored 19,201 of his 26,071 points and grabbing 10,718 of his 14,662 rebounds in a Timberwolves uniform. “Loved on & off the court, a role model, & one of the most influential players to ever play the game”.
“Thank you KG”, tweeted ASM Sports, Garnett’s longtime agency.
The Timberwolves hired Tom Thibodeau as coach and president in the offseason as well as a new general manager in Scott Layden.
Garnett has been named to 15 All-Star Games, winning the All-Star MVP award in 2003, and is now tied for third-most All-Star selections in National Basketball Association history. According to the Associated Press, the team will now waive Garnett, which allows him to still collect the $8 million in salary he was set to make during the 2016-17 season. A season in which he averaged 24.2 points, 13.9 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game also winning the MVP trophy. The video shows Garnett walking around Target Center by himself and ends with Garnett saying “We going to be all right, man”.
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Upon returning to Minnesota, Garnett spoke of his desire to become part owner of the team once his playing career again.
