Kevin Garnett is crediting Michael Jordan for the opportunities and luxuries that today’s NBA players enjoy. During an episode of KG Certified, the 47-year-old spoke on how Jordan opened many doors for NBA players.
“Michael Jordan is the GOATs of GOATs, he is the king of kings to me,” Garnett said. “All the luxuries we have today, all the structure we have, and a lot of businesses, to be able to do a lot of this, he initiated all that. He broke that boundary for us.”
Garnett said that the likes of Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, and many others certainly played a part, but it was Jordan who took things to a whole other level.
“Michael Jordan took us universal,” Garnett continued. “We were not only household names universal but licensing went to another level. The business of basketball went to another level because of Mike. Mike made the league a trillion and he made Nike a trillion.”
It was Magic Johnson and Larry Bird who saved the NBA, as the league was struggling mightily when they arrived. With the foundation they had built, Jordan took things up many notches. He is widely credited with having played the biggest role in popularizing the NBA and basketball itself around the world.
Jordan was the first real global NBA superstar and as Garnett says, his success would end up helping everyone else that played with him and all those who followed.
Charles Barkley Had Similar Reasons For Why Michael Jordan Is The GOAT
Garnett really echoed the sentiments of Charles Barkley here, as he had brought up many of the same things earlier. Barkley said Jordan is the GOAT because of the shoe deals and commercials.
“I mean, Michael did two things why I always tell people [that] I think he’s the GOAT. Number one, the shoe thing. Nobody was making money in shoes before Michael. Now, guys [are] all making three, four hundred million dollars a year because of Michael. Well, a couple of guys are making that much. But that’s because of Michael. Then, secondly, we all got commercials. Nobody made commercials before Michael Jordan came along.”
Jordan as an entity became such a huge commercial success that it helped everyone else. We nowadays see these sneaker brands sign rookies before they even play an NBA game and that would have been unthinkable before Jordan showed up. He completely revolutionized the sneaker business with Nike and the Jordan brand.
Also, everywhere you look, there’s an NBA player in some sort of commercial, and that wasn’t the case in the past. Today’s players certainly owe a lot to Jordan, as I don’t believe they would be having it this good had he never existed.
Kevin Garnett On When He Realized Michael Jordan Isn’t Human
Garnett was fortunate enough to have some battles on the court with Jordan during his career and the Chicago Bulls icon certainly made quite an impression on him. Garnett once explained how a play made him realize Jordan isn’t human.
“When he crossed back over. I stole it. Give me this. He looked at me. I gave it to him. We go down, score. The very next play they called the very next play, this is no sauce.”
“I count the Dribbles. One, two, come across when I blinked, he was gone. I turned around. He was dunking the ball, giving somebody dab halfway down the court. That fast. That’s when I knew Michael Jordan wasn’t human. “
Garnett was one of the finest defensive players of his generation and even he was left in a bit of a daze by Jordan. He truly was just a special talent on the court.
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