Kevin Garnett Won’t Accept Timberwolves Invitations to Retire Jersey

By    |  
Updated:

Glen Taylor recently made his stance on the overdue retirement of Kevin Garnett’s jersey clear. In an interview with Derek Wetmore of 1500ESPN.com, the Timberwolves owner conveyed that the Wolves are fully prepared to immortalize Garnett:

“For our part, we have invited KG to do that numerous times. So I think it’s just waiting for KG to feel comfortable doing that. For whatever reason, he’s been a little bit silent on that issue. But I’m sure it’ll happen. We’re not pushing but we sure have told him that the door is open and we look forward to that time.”

Why hasn’t Kevin Garnett’s jersey already been retired?

The late Flip Saunders meant a ton to Garnett. Their reunion for the 2015 season seemed like a story book ending for KG’s playing career. Rumors were swirling that upon basketball retirement, he would move into a front office/coaching position with Minnesota.

Part of Garnett’s silence has to do with his feelings on the Flip memorial, but that’s not the whole story. Upon Flip’s passing, the Timberwolves were forced to hire a new coach. Enter Tom Thibodeau, as the Head Coach AND President of Basketball Operations. While Saunders most certainly would have kept Garnett around, that wasn’t the case with the Thibodeau regime, for whatever reason. 

Why Garnett couldn’t be a part of Thibs’ plans is a bit unclear, especially being they won a title together in Boston. They both appreciate defense and seem to be VERY knowledgeable about the game.. I guess we may never know.

No one could have envisioned that Flip would pass at such a young age. It was, and still is, an extremely sad event for people across this state. The Minnesota Timberwolves organization did and still does a tremendous job honoring the late coach.

As for hiring Tom Thibodeau, I understand what the Timberwolves did. Business is business. It sucks, but that’s just the way it works. The NBA if HUGE F****N Business. Companies decide to go different ways on a daily basis. It’s not as if we pulled a “bait-and-switch” on Garnett. A BUSINESS DECISION was made as to how to best move forward.

This Tweet came from Fox Sports North:

KAT just turned 22 on Wednesday. He’s barely a month into his third NBA season. Statistically, he’s ALREADY one of MN’s best players ever. After tonight’s game, he should be 5th place in franchise history for Win Shares. The gap between Kevin Garnett and everyone else is ABSURD! In his prime, the Big Ticket was right up there with Randy Moss in popularity. One simply can’t take comparing people to 84 lightly. In this case, it’s a fair comparison:

Should Kevin Garnett just get over it? If put in his shoes, the average person would have probably let this grudge pass. KG hasn’t and that’s part of what makes him so special. He’s wired different from the rest of us. Kevin Garnett stepped on the court looking for blood. No mercy. You can’t just turn off that type of mindset.

We’re available at your convenience, KG. Whenever you’re ready. In the meantime, we’ll be admiring the main reason this is still an ongoing saga:

Johnny Minnesota @mnsportsnstuff
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com

Photo: NBA.com

Mentioned in this article:

More About: