Kevin Garnett Claims He Would’ve “Cooked” Tim Duncan

Ah, an NBA player talking about him being better than everyone else on the court. There is nothing new in that. The latest to join the list of players who have claimed “I would have dominated him” was Kevin Garnett. And the rival he was trumping? San Antonio Spurs legend Tim Duncan.

Well, to be fair, Garnett didn’t go out of his way to call Duncan out. On the What You Thought podcast, the panelists were discussing a hypothetical 1v1 between the two, when one of the hosts revealed that his counterpart predicted a 10 out of 10 victory for ‘The Big Ticket’. As it turns out, Garnett agrees.

While the hosts discussed how Duncan “tortured” KG on the basketball court, 1v1 is a whole different ball game. Duncan was part of a Spurs dynasty with other legends like Tony Parker, whereas Garnett was on a Minnesota Timberwolves side that was struggling for relevance. Omit the players around them, and, if they go up against each other, Garnett feels that the tides will favor him.

On Instagram, Garnett shared a clip from the podcast with the caption, “Would have cooked his a**, no cap,” with an emoji of a cap. So in his mind, there’s no way Duncan would win even once.

However, Garnett won’t be able to prove himself. What counts for real is NBA records, and in their matchups over the years, Duncan has the bragging rights by some margin. The Spurs legend has won 33 times against KG and lost 19.

In terms of stats, the two have been slightly closer, which shows that on a different team, Garnett may have bettered the head-to-head. Duncan had 19.0 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. Garnett had 19.5 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists.

Keep an eye out for Duncan’s trash talk

Garnett has always kept an eye on Duncan. Garnett has spoken about his brilliance and also his traits several times since hanging up his boots.

For instance, while talking about trash-talking in another podcast, Garnett revealed what made Duncan stand out. “People would not see him verbally saying stuff, because he wouldn’t talk in sentences. Timmy will hit you in phrases, ‘Got you, oooh, almost,’. That’s the worst right here — ‘Nice Try,'” he said.

Understandably, it was infuriating for Duncan’s rivals. Heated exchanges feel more natural when both sides are hurling insults or making wild claims. But when someone throws out a calm, cutting comment like “Nice try,” it forces you to think hard before coming up with a response.

So, if it were a 1v1 battle of the words, then Garnett would’ve gotten “cooked” going by how Duncan deals with trash-talking.