Kevin Garnett Snapped on 1x NBA Champ for Not Giving Up Starting Spot to Derrick Rose

On the latest episode of the Club 520 Podcast, Jeff Teague and his co-hosts discussed the 2024 NBA Draft class, highlighting how Paul Pierce recently trolled the class of ’24 by proclaiming that he would be a lottery pick if he declared for the Draft. Subsequently, the crew started talking about old heads giving younger players love. At one point during the conversation, Teague revealed a hilarious Kevin Garnett story from his stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves that displayed the latter’s love for Derrick Rose despite suffering a playoff loss against him.

During the 2017-2018 season, Teague and Rose both played for the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, Teague was on the starting lineup while Rose came off the bench. Kevin Garnett, who is a huge admirer of D Rose, was annoyed at Teague for starting instead of the 2011 MVP. In his podcast, the 2021 NBA Champ revealed how the Big Ticket would snap at him for the same.

Teague said, “I’m in Minnesota. So first of all, this ni**a (Kevin Garnett), he love D Rose. Rightfully so, we all do. But I was starting. He [KG] was like, ‘When is this ni**a gonna give his fu**ing spot up?!’”

The entire crew burst out in laughter immediately. Afterwards, the 35-year-old also revealed how he was denied KG’s signature by the legend’s trainer.

Seems like Garnett took it extremely personally that Derrick Rose was not on the starting lineup. Hence, a decision made by the coach was the reason behind Teague not getting the 2008 champ’s signature.

Kevin Garnett announced that he would start Derrick Rose

It seemed as though Kevin Garnett was merely joking and pulling Jeff Teague’s leg by not giving him an autograph. However, Garnett was quite serious about his take regarding Derrick Rose starting for the Wolves. As reported by Star Tribune, Garnett admitted that Rose was getting older. But the big man lauded the guard for being craftier than ever, while also explaining how starting Rose would be beneficial considering his experience and knowledge.

“You know, you get older, but the knowledge don’t go anywhere,” said Garnett. “He’s more crafty now than ever in the pick-and-roll. He’s able to get shots for guys and he’s able to knock shots down, so yeah, I would.”

Merely a few months later, the 2018-2019 regular season began and the Wolves didn’t listen to KG’s advice. However, Rose did perform significantly better than Teague during that season.

Playing 30.1 minutes per game, JT averaged 12.1 points. But Rose played almost three minutes less on average and still managed to lodge 18 points per game, per Basketball Reference.