Back in 2010, Kevin Garnett crossed the line with his trash-talking as the Big Ticket called Detroit’s Charlie Villanueva a “Cancer Patient”.
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Kevin Garnett is one of the toughest basketball players of modern basketball. Over the course of his two-decade-long career, Garnett was a force to reckon with down in the post. Not only did Kevin have an insanely deep offensive arsenal, but he was also one tough player on the defensive end of the floor.
KG played tough basketball and had grit which was unparalleled. The fact that he never was shy to face any type of competition, is what set him apart from his opponents. Skipping college and entering the league as a young 18-year-old, The Big Ticket took no time to make an impact on the floor.
Throughout his 21-year career, Garnett built one of the most decorated resumes ever. The Big Ticket has 15 All-Star appearances, 9 All-NBA team selections, 12 All-Defensive selections, 4-time Rebounding champ, DPOY, MVP, an NBA championship and was even enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall-Of-Fame a couple of months back.
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Apart from being one of the best big men in league history, KG is widely even considered as the best trash-talkers in modern basketball. Garnett not only had a physically dominant and tough game, but he would also like to belittle his opponents by getting their head with his trash-talking abilities. It is not an unknown fact that he would swear and embarrass a lot of players with his words.
“Kevin Garnett called me a ‘Cancer Patient’”: Charlie Villanueva
Several fans seemed to have enjoyed Kevin Garnett and his trash-talking abilities. After all, he was one of the very players in history to actually back his talking. However, this one time, KG did take it too far.
Back in 2010, the Boston Celtics faced Detroit Pistons as their fourth game of the 2010-11 season. Coming off an NBA Finals appearance the previous year, it was no surprise that the Celtics blew out the Pistons 109-86. Right after that game, Detroit big man Charlie Villanueva posted a tweet accusing Kevin of calling him a “cancer patient”.
KG called me a cancer patient, I’m pissed because, u know how many people died from cancer, and he’s tossing it like it’s a joke,
— Charlie Villanueva INVESTOR (@CVBelieve) November 3, 2010
Now, Charlie has a health condition called “Alopecia Universalis” and one of the symptoms of this condition is eventual hair loss. Joking about anyone’s health conditions is never cool and several fans and players believed that Garnett did cross a few lines.
Immediately Garnett called the entire incident “a major miscommunication” and released a statement that read
“My comment to Charlie Villanueva was in fact ‘You are cancerous to your team and our league,'” Garnett said. “I would never be insensitive to the brave struggle that cancer patients endure. I have lost loved ones to this deadly disease and have a family member currently undergoing treatment, I would never say anything that distasteful. The game of life is far bigger than the game of basketball.”
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Miscommunication? Do you really think a ruthless Garnett didn’t mean to belittle Charlie Villanueva? Well, sadly we don’t know what were the exact words exchanged between the two. But knowing Kevin Garnett you can’t put it past him that he did in fact use such harsh words.
