Kevin Garnett is a renowned student of the game and probably would be successful if he started his career in the modern NBA, just make sure the Boston Celtics icon doesn’t catch you saying that.
Garnett arguably had one of the best transitions from his playing days to a broadcast career among players from his generation. The 47-year-old has not been filtered nor does he hold back when he gives analysis. That wasn’t any different when he sat down on the “Stephen A. Smith Show” this week.
“The problem I think with today is that we are so caught up on the yesteryear of the culture and the history that built the league that bro, we’re missing out on greatness, right in front of us,” Garnett told the ESPN personality. “LeBron James is 30 (expletive) years old doing something we ain’t even seen. We got a whole 7-foot-6 Frenchman (Victor Wembanyama) in the god damn league. He’s a rookie looking like he’s a two-, three-year player, looking like he’s a guard. He nutmegged a guard. Listen, Wilt Chamberlain is rolling over in his grave right now if we told him a 6-foot-10 is playing center and jumps this high is the …”
Garnett literally hopped off his seat and walked away to seemingly calm himself down as his passion escalated during his rant. But the 2008 NBA champion still had more to add.
“Bro, we got to get off this,” Garnett continued. “You know what Steve? I’ll say this, and I say this to the world. We got to get over this. Michael Jordan, Magic (Johnson), they are the past. We got to embrace this new ish. Bro, we ain’t never seen Steph Curry. We ain’t never seen anything like Steph Curry. We keep talking about Jerry West. Shoutout to Jerry West. He was super goon, did great things for the league, but yeah, we in a new time, bro. Jerry West ain’t never seen this type of range.”
It would appear Garnett is tired of the constant comparisons between James and Jordan and would rather celebrate the Los Angeles Lakers superstar for his accomplishment of being the only player in NBA history to score over 39,000 points.
Garnett’s comments were met with praise as fans found it refreshing for a former player, especially one who was known for his toughness and passion for the game, come to the defense of modern players, who are targets of those who cling to the players of “yesteryear.”
However, given how the NBA news cycle travels, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see divergent takes on Garnett’s impassioned rant.
