Kevin Garnett has had a complicated relationship with the Timberwolves.
Kevin Garnett has had a complicated relationship with the Timberwolves.Charles Krupa
This story originally appeared in this week’s Sunday Basketball Notes. Read the rest here.
Kevin Garnett, who played 14 of his 21 NBA seasons with the Timberwolves, does not have his No. 21 retired because of a longstanding feud with former owner Glen Taylor. Garnett believed he should have been offered a minority share of the franchise when he retired and Taylor made no invitation for Garnett to join the group or be a part of the franchise.
Taylor is no longer the owner but Garnett remains estranged from the organization and mending that relationship is now a priority for the new ownership duo of Marc Lore and former baseball great Alex Rodriguez.
“He’s the GOAT in Minnesota and we have tremendous respect for KG and everything he’s accomplished,” Lore said. “We would love to get closer to him, and I know the fans want to see that — we want to see that too.”
Rodriguez said he’s been a Garnett fan since his initial years in Minnesota. In 1995, Garnett became the first player to enter the draft out of high school since Moses Malone and Bill Willoughby two decades before. In 1993, Rodriguez was the No. 1 overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft by the Seattle Mariners out of Westminster Christian School in Miami. Rodriguez said he has felt a link to Garnett since those days.
“I’ve been an enormous fan of Kevin,” Rodriguez said. “We’re similar ages. We both came out of high school. I’ve watched him and tracked him closely. Anything that’s important to our fanbase is going to be important to us. And obviously he means a great deal to our fanbase. And Marc and I are going to work on that.”
When asked what encouraged Rodriguez to pursue basketball ownership, he first said it was because his bid to purchase the Mets was denied in 2020. But he also pointed to a conversation with outgoing Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck about jumping sports.
“I was asking [Grousbeck] some advice about baseball and some of things he’s learned in his time in Boston and when the meeting ended, the dinner ended in New York, he said ‘maybe you should look into the NBA if this doesn’t work out,’ ” Rodriguez said. “And the funny thing is when Marc and I [purchased the Timberwolves] he said, ‘you finally listened to me.’ I’ve just been a big admirer of the NBA and what Adam Silver and his group have done over the last many, many years and going back to David Stern.
“I remember watching Magic and Bird every single Sunday on CBS and then they passed the baton to Michael and then LeBron and you see the growth. It’s just remarkable.”
Of course Lore’s and Rodriguez’s road to owning the Timberwolves was not easy. They initially agreed to the purchase from Taylor, who then reneged because he said the group did not meet certain conditions. Lore and Rodriguez accused Taylor of having seller’s remorse and the issue went to arbitration.
Gary Washburn is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at gary.washburn@globe.com. Follow him @GwashburnGlobe.