Kevin Garnett wants his tenure as an NBA governor to begin in one place.
The Boston Celtics legend revealed to The Associated Press this week his next basketball dream is to own and operate an expansion franchise in Seattle.
The city has been without a team since 2008, when the SuperSonics left for Oklahoma City and became the Thunder, but Garnett believes the passion the Pacific Northwest metropolis had for NBA basketball still exists to this day.
“If I have a dream, I would say that I would love to be able to go and buy the Seattle SuperSonics and reactivate the Seattle Northwest and get NBA loving back going into that area,” Garnett said. “I think it’s needed and it’s essential. Seattle was huge to our league. Not just Portland, but the whole northwest. I would love to be able to do that.”
Seattle sports fans have been pining for an NBA team since the SuperSonics left town, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in 2017 the Emerald City would be on the short list of potential sites for an expansion team. The commish described the possibility of an NBA relaunch there as “inevitable.”
Having earned $340 million-plus in salary during his 21-year career as a professional basketball player and making plenty of income from endorsements, business ventures and other revenue streams, Garnett might be in the rare position of being able to buy a large stake in an NBA franchise. In fact, he conditioned his 2015 return to the Minnesota Timberwolves on joining Glen Taylor among the team’s owners. (Garnett fell out with Taylor months later and still holds a grudge against him.)
The Garnett-Taylor feud shouldn’t derail the Big Ticket’s ownership dreams, and the prospect of his presence should excite Seattle-based NBA fans. However, before Garnett opens that chapter, he’ll close the one on his playing career in August when the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrines him as part of its 2020 class.
