Kevin Garnett has revealed why he never wanted to play with one of the most successful franchises in the NBA, the Chicago Bulls. KG enjoyed a very good career, but now he revealed he didn’t have any intentions to join the Bulls during his active days, regardless of having played high school basketball in the Windy City.
The reason? He cited how Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf treated Michael Jordan toward the end of his career as a big factor for him not wanting to play for Chicago.
Via Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune:
My question: Were you ever close to signing with the Bulls?
Garnett: “I was never close to signing with the Bulls. Ever.”
Silence.
Why?
Garnett: “I don’t really have a why. There was never an opportunity to, and I saw how Jerry (Reinsdorf), how they did Mike, you know, keeping it 100 (% truthful). And all players keep that in the back of their minds. If you treat the greatest like this … the greatest didn’t even have a chance to come back and have ownership. What he invested to build the Bulls, he didn’t even get a chance to come back and reap the benefits of that, so … players see that and remember that or put that in the back of their minds. At least I did.
“But I don’t know why in the hell the Bulls can’t sign any free agents. I don’t know.”
But you just said it.
“Yeah,” Garnett replied, “I just probably gave you the answer all in there.
“But who knows? Different times, though. (Shoutout) to Zach LaVine, he’s doing his thing. Let’s see if they keep that nucleus together.”
The Chicago Bulls aren’t precisely known for landing big free agents. The biggest example of that took place in 2010 when they missed out on LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and landed Carlos Boozer instead.
It looks like they need to find a new Michael Jordan in order to be a successful team again. So far, they’ve mightily failed.