Former NBA big man Kevin Garnett is widely regarded as one of the greatest power forwards to ever play the game. As a 15x All-Star, 9x All-NBA player, NBA Champion, and NBA Hall of Famer, the ‘Big Ticket’ has more authority than most to talk basketball.
Recently, the NBA legend made an appearance on the “MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME” podcast, where he talked about all things life and basketball.
At one point, he even detailed his ultimate NBA lineup.
Kevin Garnett’s all-time NBA team:
PG: Magic Johnson
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Kevin Durant
PF: Kevin Garnett
C: Wilt Chamberlain
Bench:
PG: Pistol Pete
SG: AI, Vince Carter, MJ
SF: Glen Robinson
PF: Rasheed Wallace
C: Shaq
Name a 12-man roster that’s beating that (if you can)
— . (@TheNBACentral) November 29, 2021
(start at 24:34)
It’s a solid list by KG, but there are a few glaring issues. For one, he doesn’t have LeBron James or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his list, instead substituting them for Kevin Durant, Rasheed Wallace, and Shaq.
There’s also the matter of why put Kobe Bryant over Michael Jordan.
While Kobe is an 18x All-Star, 5x Champion, and the NBA’s 4th all-time leading scorer, many would argue he doesn’t belong anywhere near Jordan in the All-Time rankings.
Nevertheless, KG has him up there, and it’s not hard to see why. Even before he entered the league, Kobe had a fierce and unwavering drive to be great, and Garnett saw it first-hand.
“Kobe was crazy man, this is a crazy story,” Garnett said. “I remember playing, I had a decent game, this is in April. So we’re going home, we’re making no playoffs, my first year, I had a better second half than first half. I come in, I had to do some press, so I come in and the locker room’s going crazy you know, it’s just everywhere. The equipment, guys picking up stuff, people getting showers going like this. So I saw a kid sitting in my seat and I thought maybe somebody’s son. So I was like what’s up get right here? He [Kobe] was like what’s up yo what’s up, I’m Kobe Bryant, I’m trying to come to the league. And I had just walked into the locker room like who the f*ck’s son is this?”
All-Time teams and rankings are always going to be controversial, and that remains true in this case as well. Since making his opinion known, many fans have presented their arguments as to why it’s wrong.
But don’t expect Garnett to fold — his reasons are just as good as everyone else’s, after all.
