Everyone listen close now: This man bleeds green!
While Kevin Garnett was emphatic in the days leading up to the NBA trade deadline that he did not want to play for anyone but Boston, that didn’t keep other teams from trying to make a move for him. That included the Clippers, who were among the prime trade partners, with Eric Bledsoe and DeAndre Jordan reportedly on the block in exchange for Garnett.
The catch was that Garnett repeatedly refused to waive his no-trade clause, insisting that he came back to the NBA only to play for the Celtics, and that he planned to retire in Boston. Reports now show that his stance stood firm even as the Clippers went to even greater lengths to try to acquire him.
Chris Paul had the ear of Clippers management and told Garnett he could make the deal happen if Garnett wanted the trade, Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald reports. But Garnett turned down the extra attention from Paul, and the Celtics moved neither Garnett nor mainstay Paul Pierce before the deadline.
While earlier reports have indicated that Paul was involved in bending management’s ear in Los Angeles, it’s another issue entirely that the All-Star point guard made a direct plea to Garnett. In the end, though, he heard what everybody has heard in recent days: Garnett will be staying with the Celtics.
