In a recent segment on his podcast (KG Certified), NBA legend Kevin Garnett gave his candid take on the new-look Timberwolves. Like most critics, he’s not been impressed with their play this season and said that they traded the wrong player this summer when they added Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Keita Bates-Diop, and a future first-round pick via the Detroit Pistons.
“We just swept that whole Minnesota thing under the rug. You’re supposed to trade Rudy Gobert, keep KAT, and go on,” said Garnett. “You didn’t wanna pay the man, what are we doing?”
As a 21-year NBA veteran, Kevin Garnett has a vested interest in the Timberwolves. He played there for 14 years and is still recognized today as one of their greatest players ever. Over 970 games with the franchise, Garnett averaged 19.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game on 49.1% shooting. He retired in 2016 as an NBA champion, MVP, and 15x NBA All-Star.
Today, while Garnett does not have a formal position on the Timberwolves, he’s still highly respected within the organization and occasionally serves as an advisor of sorts during big decisions. He wants to see the Timberwolves succeed, and Garnett believes it would have been easier for them if they traded Rudy Gobert instead of Karl-Anthony Towns this summer.
Towns, who is one of the best offensive centers in the game, thought he found a permanent home in Minnesota, but after last season’s loss in the West Finals, GM Matt Lloyd felt the time was right for a major change in the front court.
But many, including Garnett, would have traded Rudy Gobert instead of Towns. The NBA Frenchman joined the Timberwolves back in 2022 as part of a huge blockbuster trade but there were doubts from the beginning that it was the right move to make.
Gobert’s transition was pretty rough and it took the Timberwolves an entire season before they could get their act together. It was then, in the 2023-24 campaign, that the Timberwolves went on a run and earned the benefit of the doubt from the front office.
Gobert proved his worth in that stretch, averaging 14.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game on 66.1% shooting to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award.
But despite his dominant individual numbers, Gobert’s fit has been rocky, at best, and he’s clashed with several Timberwolves players already. Most recently, he and Julius Randle got into it over a failed offensive possession.
Now, with the Timberwolves reeling, there has to be a sense of regret creeping over the front office. They were a top-three team in the West before the Towns trade, and now it’s looking like they may be one of the teams competing in the play-in tournament.
If the Wolves don’t turn it around soon and find some common ground, things will only get worse and all the goodwill they earned a year ago will be completely undone. For Rudy Gobert in particular, the pressure is on for him to rise to the occasion and prove that he was the right one to keep alongside Anthony Edwards.
The Timberwolves’ next game is tomorrow, November 29th, against the Clippers at Target Center. They have a few days off before facing the Lakers at home, at 8:00 PM EST. That’s their last match before starting a three-game road trip which begins on Friday, December 6th, against the Warriors at Chase Center at 10:00 PM EST.
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