Kevin Garnett turned 40-years-old in May and with the 2016-17 season a few months away, the big man has the Timberwolves front office wondering if he will return for his 21st season or hang up his kicks for good.
KG played in 38 games last season, serving as more of a mentor to the Wolves young roster than as a true contributing piece. But with Tom Thibodeau in place and a young, exciting roster on the floor, Minnesota will be a sexy pick to make the playoffs next season–something that Garnett would likely want to be a part of.
Steve Aschburner, now of NBA.com and formerly of MinnPost and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, sat down with T’Wolves owner Glen Taylor and got the scoop on Garnett’s thought process:
As he has done for most of his career, Garnett, who turned 40 in May, has gone off the official grid and even has the Timberwolves’ honchos guessing. Tom Thibodeau, Minnesota’s new coach and president of basketball operations, has spoken to the 7-foot power forward since being hired after the season but has not gotten a definitive answer. The same goes for owner Glen Taylor, who said Wednesday in Las Vegas he had dinner with Garnett about a month ago.
“I just asked him, ‘Kevin, what are you going to do?’ His answer was, ‘I’d really like to play next year ‘cuz I’d like to go out knowing we got into the playoffs,’ ” Taylor said.
“Then he said, ‘I don’t know if I can.’
“I asked him, ‘What does that mean?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know.’
“So I asked the question but I didn’t get an answer that helped me. Yes, theoretically, he’d like to play. But he has some doubts of his knees holding up. I believe he told me exactly the truth.”
“I think he’s worried if he can play,” Taylor said. “I worry about that too. When I talked to him last year, I said, ‘Is it your knees or what?’ He said, ‘It’s my whole leg.’ “
