Kevin Garnett on the Bill Simmons Podcast

Kevin Garnett was open, transparent and candid on the court during his playing days. In retirement not one iota has changed.

He did not disappoint either during his appearance on the Bill Simmons Podcast this week. Everything to some degree was on the table.

First and foremost he was on the pod alongside Adam Sandler mainly to promote their new movie. But listening to the just over an hour sit down you forgot really quickly that Sandler, who is obviously the bigger name and the bigger star in the mainstream because he’s one of the most popular and influential comedians in the last quarter century was on there.

Garnett was the star. Point, blank, period. Especially on the subject of LeBron James and how he claims he and his Boston Celtics teammates “broke him” during the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals vs. the Miami Heat.

Below is a transcription of the exchange:

Simmons: You're trying to get into his head. You feel like you can break LeBron at this point.

Garnett: We broke LeBron.

Simmons: In Game 5.

Garnett: So get your a-- out of here with that. You understand how he got to Cleveland. How he got to Miami, Bill? You remember that?

Simmons: Oh that's true. You broke him in 2010. Fair enough.

Garnett: So stop bringing it up.

Simmons: Fair enough.

Garnett: So they was talking s--- to him – the media. And the league knew that they had an agenda in which we wasn't part of the agenda. You understand? Right. And that's how they ended up winning that series. Yeah. I said it.

Simmons: Do you think you pushed LeBron too far in Game 5? Because in Game 6, he's unbelievable.
Garnett: What're you talking about? Pushed him too far?

Simmons: Nothing?

Garnett: Man, listen. Let me tell you something. The C's, we didn't give a f--- about LeBron. We didn't fear LeBron. And we didn't think he could beat all five of us. And that's how it felt. He was trying to consolidate because he didn't want the pressure on him. You understand?

So some things to unpack. Many LeBron James obsessive fan who feel he does no wrong will refer to the fact that following Game 5 of those sameEast Finals that LeBron pretty much nuked the end of the Celtics “Big 3” in Game 6 with his historic 45 point performance that saved the Miami Heat blueprint at the time. The Heat went on to win the series in seven games then proceeded to win back to back Finals as a result.

The Celtics never recovered.

However the quote that Garnett broke LeBron honestly had nothing to do with the aforementioned series. Moreso the 2010 East semifinals matchup which the Celtics for the 2nd year in a row eliminated the 60 win Cleveland Cavaliers from the postseason during LeBron’s first stint in Cleveland.

The “broke” he was speaking of was likely James changing uniforms and teaming up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh and taking his talents to South Beach.

All in all this podcast made me realize two things. That I miss the shit of Kevin Garnett and players like him in the league. It was fun respectively hating him. They don’t make many guys like the KG in the Association anymore.

The second thing is that Kevin Garnett needs his own podcast. I know he hosted the Area 21 segment on TNT last season but that format seemed way too restrictive for someone of his caliber. Kevin Garnett can and in my opinion would be the next athlete turn media star in the industry.