Kevin Maurice Garnett is an American professional basketball player with 21 seasons of playing in the NBA. He is a former NBA Champion, an NBA Most Valuable Player, and NBA All-Star Game MVP. Garnett has a gold medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics and another gold medal for the 1999 FIBA American Championship in San Juan.
From 1995 to 2016, he played with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, and Brooklyn Nets. In NBA, Garnett is considered one of the best all-around players. Standing at 6 ft 11 inches, he played as a power-forward and center.
Garnett completed his high school from Mauldin High School, South Carolina. He then went on to study and graduate at the Farragut career Academy. As Farragut was led by Garnett to a 28-2 record, USA Today named Garnett as the National High School Player of the Year. The State of Illinois named him Mr. Basketball as Garnett averaged 6.5 blocks, 6.7 assists, 17.9 rebounds, and 25.2 points while shooting 66.8 percent from the field.
Minnesota Timberwolves which was struggling during the 1995 NBA draft drafted Garnett with the fifth pick. In this way after Moses Malone who was drafted in 1974 Garnett became the first player to be drafted directly out of high school. In this rookie year, Garnett came off the bench initially but after Saunders became head coach he moved into the starting lineup. In this year, he had an average of 1.8 apg, 6.3 rpg and 10.4 ppg and was further selected in the All-Rookie second team. During this period, he was the youngest NBA player at 19 years and 11 months of age.
Garnett performed well in the 2001-02 NBA Season. He had an average of 1.2 steals, 1.6 blocks, 5.2 assists, 12.1 rebounds and 21.2 points per game. This was sufficient to nominate Garnett into an All-NBA second team again.
In 2003-04 Season, Garnett average score was 1.5 steals, 2.2 blocks, 5.0 assists, 13.9 rebounds and 24.2 points per game. Due to this performance Garnett received the Most Valuable Player award. In the 2004-05 Season, Garnett was once again chosen for the All-NBA Second Team with a 44-38 record. Despite of Garnett ’s outstanding performance the Wolves failed to make it the NBA playoffs.
The 2005-06 Season was a complete disappointment for Garnett. Although Garnett played his game, the team could not register a good performance. In fact, after Garnett had joined the franchise, this was the second worst performance. The All-NBA Third team selected Garnett on 10 May 2007.
On 31 July, Garnett was exchanged for Theo Ratliff, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Ryan Gomes and Al Jefferson and then Garnett became a member of the Boston Celtics. This was one of the largest 7 for 1 trade in the history of NBA.
On 24 January the NBA All-Star Ballot received their final votes in which all the players were led by Garnett. The starters of the 2008 NBA All-Star Game were decided by these votes. 2399148 voted for Garnett which in the NBA All-Star Balloting history was the 6th highest total.
Garnett, along with his team, made Boston Celtics the NBA Champion in the same year he was traded to the team and finished third place in the running for the MVP. He was traded to Brooklyn Nets in 2013. Two years after, he was traded again back to Minnesota Timberwolves.
In September 2016, he retired from professional basketball with a career statistics of 26, 071 points, 14, 662 rebounds, and 5,445 assists.
Career Accomplishments:
• NBA champion (2008)• NBA Most Valuable Player (2004)• 15-time NBA All-Star (1997, 1998, 2000–2011, 2013)• NBA All-Star Game MVP (2003)• NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2008)• 4-time All-NBA First Team (2000, 2003, 2004, 2008)• 3-time All-NBA Second Team (2001, 2002, 2005)• 2-time All-NBA Third Team (1999, 2007)• 9-time NBA All-Defensive First Team (2000–2005, 2008, 2009, 2011)• 3-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2006, 2007, 2012)• NBA All-Rookie Second Team (1996)• 4-time NBA rebounding champion (2004–2007)• J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (2006)• Mr. Basketball USA (1995)• McDonald’s All-American Game MVP (1995)• Illinois Mr. Basketball (1995)
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