NBA Hall of Famer, 2004 MVP, 2008 Defensive Player of the Year, and 2008 NBA champion Kevin Garnett is the most tenacious power forward of all time.
In an interview with GQ, he expressed the difference between his perception of LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
“Michael Jordan I looked at as fucking God. And I thought he was my version of what basketball looked like,” Garnett said. “And with LeBron, it was more like the little homie. Here’s the little homie growing up, and man, little homie is getting better than everybody! God damn!… I definitely talked some shit to him. I’ve definitely said some crazy shit to him. He’s definitely said some crazy shit back to me.” Garnett also praises LeBron for carrying the NBA as long as he has: “You’ve gotta have that in you to be able to have those shoulders to carry it. No man is perfect in this shit, and there ain’t no telltale book on how to do this shit. He’s done a great fucking job. I just felt like it was only right to give him that respect.”
James and Garnett had their past battles stemming from the Big Ticket’s arrival in Boston via trade in 2007.
In 2008, the Boston Celtics defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in a Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Two years later, the Cavaliers fell to the Celtics in Game 6 the same round.
I think this is how many players and fans in Garnett’s era see Jordan and LeBron. For the younger generation, Kobe and LeBron are the players they looked up to as GODs because they are too young to have witnessed Jordan’s greatness.
Garnett retired in 2016, the same year the late Kobe Bryant and San Antonio Spurs big man Tim Duncan left.
Flip the pages for some of Garnett and LeBron’s greatest battles on the court.