Two of the best players in NBA history stepped away from the game this summer. Could a third follow suit?
After Kobe Bryant completed his farewell tour and Tim Duncan slipped quietly into the night, the focus now turns to Kevin Garnett, who just finished his 21st NBA season.
The 40-year-old forward hasn’t made any official announcement, but Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor said he recently had a conversation with Garnett about the possibility of the veteran forward retiring.
From NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner:
“I just asked him, ‘Kevin, what are you going to do?’ His answer was, ‘I’d really like to play next year ‘cuz I’d like to go out knowing we got into the playoffs,'” Taylor said.
“Then he said, ‘I don’t know if I can.’
“I asked him, ‘What does that mean?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know.’
“So I asked the question but I didn’t get an answer that helped me. Yes, theoretically, he’d like to play. But he has some doubts of his knees holding up. I believe he told me exactly the truth.”
Garnett can make NBA history if he returns for one more season, as his 21 years of service are tied with Robert Parish and Kevin Willis for the most all-time. KG also is the only player drafted before the 1998 lockout who still is in the league.
Garnett is set to make $8 million this season in the second year of his two-year contract with Minnesota. But if the Big Ticket’s knees prevent him from coming back for one final season, he’ll retire as one of the NBA’s all-time greats: a 15-time All-Star and former league MVP who helped the Boston Celtics win a title in 2008.
Thumbnail photo via Derick E. Hingle/USA TODAY Sports Images
