Kevin Garnett Considering Retirement Due to Knee Issues on Brink of 22nd Season in NBA
In an offseason that has seen both Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan hang up their shoes, fellow NBA and Minnesota Timberwolves legend, Kevin Garnett may follow suit.
On the one hand, Garnett has the chance to hold the record for the longest career in NBA history. The 2016-2017 season would be Garnett’s 22nd year in the league, surpassing Kevin Willis and Robert Parish.
On the other hand, Garnett had some serious injury issues this past season that held him out 44 games. When he was able to get on the court, he didn’t play much. Over 38 games this past season, Garnett managed only 3.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game—nothing like the numbers we’ve come to expect from the former NBA MVP.
Garnett is set to make $8 million this season, but Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor isn’t sure what to think after lunch with the Big Ticket last month.
“I just asked him, ‘Kevin, what are you going to do?’,” said Taylor. “His answer was, ‘I’d really like to play next year cause I’d like to go out knowing we got into the playoffs.’
“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 was the No. 5 overall selection by the T’Wolves all the way back in 1995. After 12 superstars seasons in Minnesota, Garnett signed with the Boston Celtics, winning his first and only NBA championship in 2008. Garnett was then traded to the Brooklyn Nets before signing back with the Timberwolves where he is more the heart and soul of the locker room and franchise than an on-court contributor.
With Duncan (Draft Class of 1997) and Bryant (Class of 1996) retiring, Garnett is the only remaining NBA player drafted before 1998.