Kevin Garnett He could talk trash all day long. His crude remarks were perfect for getting an opponent riled up and getting on his nerves during a game. So it’s no surprise that former Washington Wizards forward Andray Blatche found him unbearable.
As Blatche often used KG as a defensive assignment, he faced relentless criticism from the former Timberwolves star. Above the edge In a podcast with Dwight Howard, Blatche revealed how his perceptions of Garnett have changed over the years.
The 38-year-old initially came into the league with a lot of respect for KG, as the former Minnesota Timberwolves star was his favorite player. But when he faced Garnett for the first time in his career, Blatche was immediately subjected to some nasty comments. That quickly changed his opinion of KG.
“The crazy thing is, I used to hate KG… He’s the one person who could piss me off every time I played against him.” Blatche said.
The 6’11” forward then developed an animosity towards him that lasted until they teamed up. Garnett was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2013, joining Blatche as a teammate. Blatche then realized that KG was actually a great guy when he wasn’t playing basketball.
Blatche described his experience with Garnett on the podcast, saying:
“That [KG] was one of mine[favorite player] “Until I got to the game to defend him. He said, ‘Who the hell is this nigger defending me? No, they didn’t, they didn’t put it on me.’ At that point I thought all I thought about you was I was past that and we had a fight for years until we got to Brooklyn together.”
“When you meet him off the field, he’s a totally different guy… A funny guy.”
This kind of experience was not unique to Blatche. Kevin Garnett was a master at unsettling his opponents. He had no limits when it came to criticizing them.
Kevin Garnett was a nightmare to deal with
In 2008, when rookie Joakim Noah told KG he had his posters on his wall, the then-Celtics forward had the nastiest reaction possible. He berated Noah, saying, ““Let go of my dick! Fuck you!”
So he didn’t spare those who admired him. But KG’s approach influenced other basketball players as well. Former New York Knicks point guard Iman Shumpert once revealed that he learned how to talk nonsense from Garnett. But he couldn’t go as far as him.
In a conversation with Gilbert Arenas on Uninterrupted in 2023, Shumpert recalled how Garnett used to speak in an abusive manner even when someone was shooting a free throw. He would say things like, “I will smell the blood“while insulting his opponents, whether or not they are his main missions. His piercing and crude remarks have always attracted attention.
As KG’s former running mate Paul Pierce puts it, it doesn’t have a stop button. His energy was overwhelming, even to his teammates. Not only were his crude remarks a way to unsettle his opponents, they also served as fuel to irritate him.
