Who would Kevin Garnett root for in a possible Celtics-Timberwolves NBA Finals? Both teams.
"I'm 50/50. I love [both]. I'm the only one who can sit in the middle and root for both. I'm the only one in the world."
A Celtics-Timberwolves matchup in the NBA Finals is looking more like a possible reality as the playoffs heat up, potentially putting Kevin Garnett in an uncomfortable spot on who to root for.
But the Basketball Hall of Famer, who reached great heights with both organizations, has a simple solution to the problem: root for both teams.
“I’m the only one here qualified to be in this position, to hold the position that I have,” Garnett said on the most recent episode of his podcast, “KG Certified: Ticket & The Truth.” “I’m 50/50. I love [both]. I’m the only one who can sit in the middle and root for both. I’m the only one in the world. Me.”
Garnett began his storied NBA career with the Timberwolves in 1995, when he became the first player drafted straight out of high school in 20 years. He guided the Timberwolves to unprecedented success in the franchise’s history, helping them become a playoff mainstay for much of his time there. He also won the MVP Award in 2004, leading the Timberwolves to the Western Conference finals that same season.
But Garnett’s time in Minnesota plateaued after the 2004 season and he was traded to Boston in 2007. He helped the Celtics win a title in his first season with the team and brought them back to the NBA Finals in 2010, earning five All-Star nods in his six seasons in Boston.
Twenty years after Garnett’s final playoff season in Minnesota, the Timberwolves appear to have their best shot at winning a title in franchise history. They took a 2-0 lead against the defending champion Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals before losing Friday’s Game 3.
The Celtics, meanwhile, are tied with the Cavaliers through the first two games of their second-round series. Still, Boston is viewed as the prohibitive favorite to win the East.
When Celtics icon Paul Pierce asked Garnett if he was forced to pick a side in a possible Finals matchup between his two former teams, he replied, “You can’t tell me what side to be on. I’m on both sides … I’m part Wolf, part Celtic.”
“I got money in both places. I got money on both blocks,” Garnett said. “I’m working the jig over here. We out here. I’m coming in here with the half Minnesota, half Celtics joint on — and all of y’all can’t tell me [expletive]. Nobody qualified to do what The Ticket can do. I got money on both blocks.
“I’m good over here, because guess what? I’m going to be the bridge to bring both of them together. They’re my young boys in Boston, they’re my young boys in Minny, straight up. Love is love. If either one calls me, I’m on the line. I can’t say that for no other organization.”
Garnett did admit that it would be a “tough place to be in,” though he joked that he would wear a split Celtics/Timberwolves jersey and celebrate a win after every game in the series if it were to happen. He also said that he would likely console whoever lost the series.
Even though Garnett spent the majority of his 21-year career with the Timberwolves (1995-07; 2015-16), he had a falling out with the organization following his retirement. It was believed at one point that he would move into a front-office role with the team after his playing days were over, but Timberwolves majority owner Glen Taylor reportedly scrapped those plans following the death of former Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders in 2015.
As a result, Garnett has refused to let the Timberwolves retire his jersey number with Taylor still as the majority owner. Taylor agreed to sell a majority stake of the team to Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore in 2021, implementing a three-year plan for the duo to make payments before officially taking over in 2024.
But that plan was scrapped in March, with Taylor declaring that the team was no longer for sale. However, Rodriguez and Lore are still fighting to own a majority share of the organization, beginning mediation earlier in May.
Garnett is hoping that the Rodriguez and Lore win out.
“What they’ve been doing in Minnesota, the energy, and this team taking on [Anthony Edwards’s] and [Karl-Anthony Towns’s] personality bro, A-Rod and Marc built that [expletive], man,” Garnett said. “It took Glen Taylor 20 years, and he can’t figure it out. This energy now that the city got, this is what I’m talking about. This is what the city needs. This is what the Wolves fans want. For Glen to get it back, I hope he’s still working with A-Rod and Marc because they did a [expletive] tremendous job.
“A-Rod knows and Marc knows that they got a dope [expletive] vision. They’re going to turn this thing around. I hope this don’t slip out of their hands, man.”
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