Whether you refer to him as Kevin Garnett, KG, The Kid, The Franchise or the Big Ticket, it is no argument that this elite NBA player has made the biggest name for himself as one of the best defensive power forwards to ever play the game.
Becoming one of the select players to be drafted right out of high school, KG played three seasons of ball in South Carolina before moving to Chicago for his senior year where he averaged 25 points, 18 boards, 7 assists, and 6.5 blocks per game. All the while he led that team to a championship and won MVP and National Player of the Year.
Garnett was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the 5th pick in the 1995 NBA draft. At just 19 years old, his freakish intensity, undisputed athleticism and skyscraper, 7-foot frame molded him into a force to be reckoned with. In just his second season with the T-wolves, KG led the team to their first playoff appearance in franchise history and subsequently signed the largest contract extension of any sport at that time! This contract gained extreme notoriety and analysts claimed it commenced tensions between players and owners, ultimately leading to a league-wide lockout. However, Kevin only improved, as each year succeeding this new contract he boasted bigger and better stat lines commencing at 18.5 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks per game to 24 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks, and 1.5 steals per game. It was during this span that he truly became the franchise player.
Although the Wolves did advance to the Western Conference Finals with the additions of Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell, injury and dysfunction did get the best of them as they fell to the Lakers. He collected his first MVP award that year. Despite being plagued with trades, intra-team dilemmas, and league issues, Kevin had taken this team to more playoff appearances than the franchise had seen prior and unbeknownst to him, opportunity would soon come knocking.
And it did. In 2007 the Boston Celtics traded for the highly coveted Garnett giving the Timberwolves a record 7 players. Joining the likes of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, The Big Three was born. In 2007 he became the 32nd player to reach a career-high 20,000 points. In 2008 he not only went on to add a Defensive Player of the Year award to his repertoire, an award that no Celtic had received prior, but also helped the Celtics to a championship. The team made one more run the following year but unfortunately came up short against the Lakers in seven games. The succeeding seasons were injury-riddled for the prominent star and another trade would soon be underway.
KG landed in Brooklyn where he played for the Nets for two years following his departure from a rebuilding Celtics team. Although his production slowly declined, this did not stop him from achieving a career 14,000 rebounds, and joining the ranks of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone as the only player to attain 25,000 points, 14,000 rebounds, and 5,000 assists.
The Big Ticket finally landed back where he started, rejoining the Minnesota Timberwolves for one more season before finally declaring an end to his 21-season long dynasty in 2016. Kevin finished with the 17th most career points and 9th most career rebounds in NBA history.
National Player of the Year
McDonald's All-American basketball game MVP
NBA All Star 10 out of 12 seasons
NBA MVP
NBA Championship
15x NBA All-Star
NBA All-Star Game MVP
4x All-NBA First Team
3x All-NBA Second Team
2x All-NBA Third Team
Defensive Player of the Year
9x All-NBA Defensive First Team
3x All-NBA Defensive Second Team
NBA All-Rookie Second Team
4x NBA Rebounding Champion
His senior year of high school he was named Mr. Basketball in Illinois
KG was the first player in twenty years to be drafted out of high school
Every morning he drinks a mixture of coffee and gatorade
"Big Ticket" comes from the notion that KG would fill stands even at road games
He is a part owner of the Italian football team AC Roma
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Alexi
