- Kevin Garnett led the Timberwolves to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in 1997
- Garnett and the Wolves though, were swept by the Rockets in the first round
- After the series, Charles Barkley had a powerful message for the young Garnett
Kevin Garnett became the first player in 20 years to be drafted directly out of high school when the Minnesota Timberwolves selected him with the fifth pick in the 1995 NBA Draft. Despite being so young, Garnett helped the Timberwolves make the playoffs in his second season, and they’d face the Houston Rockets in the first round.
The Rockets had some star power in the form of Charles Barkley and Hakeem Olajuwon, and they proved to be too much for the Timberwolves. The Rockets swept them, but after the series, Barkley took the time to give a powerful message to Garnett and teammate Stephon Marbury.
“This is in ’96 (was ’97) when he actually pulled Steph and I to the side after they beat us, actually swept us,” Garnett said on KG Certified. “And we were just so eager to be in the playoffs and so happy to be in the playoffs. But he was like, ‘Hey, we needed this one. You guys got a million years to be able to get you one. Y’all gotta go through this part of it. Every great player, every great team, has to go through some type of something to be able to get to something’.
“I was shocked that he cared enough to pull us to the side and actually give us two cents,” Garnett continued. “He gave us our two cents and he gave us his advice and I was shocked at that. But there was some brotherly love that I always remembered and always thanked him for that off the court.”
Barkley wasn’t obligated to do that. No one would have blamed him for celebrating this series victory and not caring too much about the young Timberwolves. He saw something special in them, though and wanted to pass on some wisdom to Garnett and Marbury. Garnett didn’t really appreciate it at the time, but as time went on, he realized just how special it was.
As for how Garnett played in that series, he averaged 17.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. Barkley and the Rockets, meanwhile, would make it to the Western Conference Finals, where they lost in six games to the Utah Jazz.
Garnett wouldn’t be able to get over the line and win a title with the Timberwolves, though, despite his best efforts. It took him being traded to the Boston Celtics in 2007 for Garnett to finally get his hands on the title, as they won it all in 2008.
Kevin Garnett Looked Up To Charles Barkley
For any young power forward entering the league in the 1990s, Barkley would have been one of the players to look up to. That was the case for Garnett as well, but he had another hilarious reason for looking up to Barkley. Sir Charles had that iconic commercial in 1993 where he stated he is not a role model, and his saying that people shouldn’t look up to him led to Garnett looking up to Barkley.
Garnett also stated that Barkley was one of the best trash talkers he faced and was one who could actually back up that talk by getting the last laugh on the court. Garnett added that playing against Barkley was like playing chess and that the more he studied him, the more he was influenced by him.
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