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Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant were high school phenoms turned NBA legends. But what if they played on the same team together?
It turns out they had a chance to play for the Lakers. Garnett could have chosen the Lakers in 2007 after his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, Garnett now says Bryant's ghosting forced him to choose Boston, per The Out of Mud Podcast.
"I talked to Chauncey [Billups], and Chauncey was a real friend," Garnett said. "We was in the summertime, we was all working out, and he was like, 'Man, you got to move on, man. I know you don't want to, but you're going to look up and you're going to have exhausted all your great years here, bro.' That was the first time I heard that where I actually listened to it, and it touched me."
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It also gave him a chance to play with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
"Then I just called Kevin [McHale] and said, 'Yeah, let's go ahead and start to find another situation. This ain't working for me.' So then him and Danny [Ainge] were friends, and they started that, and it made sense. I had played with Paul before, and I had played with Ray, but not officially. Ray's from South Carolina, so I knew him. So I liked it."
At the time, Garnett had options, but Bryant's silence sealed his fate.
Garnett had a chance to play with the Lakers or the Phoenix Suns. He says he tried to reach Bryant by phone, but Bryant wouldn't respond. In Garnett's mind, that was deemed "arrogant" and right then and there, Beantown was his next stop.
"Couldn't get Kobe on the phone," Bryant said. "He was acting real arrogant. So I was like, 'You know what? I'm just going to [go with] them.' And that's how I ended up in Boston. It was perfect."
Before heading to Boston, Garnett got a Boston great on the phone.
"I had to holler at Antoine [Walker] before I went to Boston, though. That's when he gave me the lick on P. Like, 'If you're going to play with Paul, Paul cares about these things.' He told me what worked with them and what didn't work, and I took that to heart."
It worked out nicely. In 2008, Garnett and company went on to win the NBA championship, defeating Bryant and the Lakers in six games.
However, Bryant and Garnett had no bad blood. In 2021, Garnett was inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside Bryant, who tragically died the year prior .
Garnett expressed profound gratitude for being inducted alongside Bryant.
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