Kevin Garnett’s career is not over yet.
Watching Garnett this season was difficult. Sometimes, you couldn’t even watch him, and not just because he missed 28 regular-season games. He simply played that bad. His jump shot wasn’t there, his mobility was so-so and the fire fans have come to know, expect and love or hate while he was in Minnesota and Boston wasn’t always there in Brooklyn.
Fresh off his 38th birthday, with one year and $12 million left on his contract, retirement is an option. Though Garnett redeemed himself a bit in the playoffs, he still wasn’t himself. He’ll forever be on a minutes cap, and Nets head coach Jason Kidd would even put him on a games cap. That’s no way to go out.
Or maybe it is.
Per the New York Post‘s Tim Bontemps, Garnett is expected to remain with the Nets through next season:
Garnett declined to talk to reporters both after the Nets’ final loss of the season to the Heat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals and during the locker room cleanout the following afternoon.
Still, all indications have been — despite the drop in production this season — Garnett will be back in Brooklyn for what would be the 20th season of his stellar NBA career. The fact is $12 million is an awful lot of money – no matter how much you’ve made in the past – and after playing much, much better over the final few months of the season, it would be easy to see Garnett agreeing to rejoin Pierce for one final season in Brooklyn before riding off into the sunset next summer.
Love him, hate him or only just found out he was still in the NBA, this should come as a relief. How many of you are honestly able to say that on the heels of Brooklyn’s Game 5 loss to the Miami Heat, you were prepared to concede you had just watched Garnett’s last game? And be honest. I sure wasn’t, and I have no rooting interest in his career.
Returning for his last season is something the Nets have to hope Garnett does. They’re not in a position to improve via free agency or trades if he doesn’t. They might even lose two players if we were to retire.
Paul Pierce doesn’t stick around if Garnett isn’t in Brooklyn. Let’s just acknowledge that now. Neither player has any real loyalty to the city. Not like they had, like they have, to Boston. If Garnett bows out, Pierce goes too. He won’t retire, though. More likely than not, he’ll take a massive pay cut to join a legitimate contender… like Doc Rivers’ Clippers.
If Garnett returns, this doesn’t matter. Pierce comes back. Get that down. The two left Boston together. Pierce wouldn’t abandon Garnett now. And Garnett wouldn’t continue playing if Pierce wanted to leave. Their futures are tethered to one another.
The good news for the Nets is they also appeared moored to Brooklyn for at least another season, giving this team one last chance to chase the title it mortgaged everything on.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com.
