“Was No Athlete Like That”: Having Spent 4 Years on ‘Childhood Hero’ Wilt Chamberlain’s Documentary, Kevin Garnett Respectfully Declines Comparison to the Big Dipper

Kevin Garnett achieved a lot in his enduring and illustrious career, which included becoming the first player in the history of the league to score 20,000 points, grab 10,000 rebounds, and dish out 5,000 assists. Garnett is one of the greatest big men in the league’s history. A 7ft highly athletic player like KG is bound to draw comparisons with some of the greatest big men of all time, like Wilt Chamberlain, arguably the most dominant NBA athlete ever. It is no secret that Garnett admires Wilt as one of the greats of the game and has spent four years making a documentary about his childhood hero. Recently, a reporter tried to compare his game to that of Wilt, but the former Celtics star immediately dismissed the thought. 

Garnett was on the red carpet to promote Goliath, a documentary about the life of the former Lakers great. The documentary is directed by Gotham Chopra, and aired on Showtime on July 14. During an interview on the premiere, Garnett talked in detail about the influence that Chamberlin had on him during his childhood.

Kevin Garnett refuses to compare himself to Wilt Chamberlain

When KG was asked about the documentary, he spoke in detail about the impact Wilt had on basketball. He called the first of the greats like, Jerry West, Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, pioneers of basketball. The 2008 NBA Champion also recalled that during his childhood, there were only a few things that his uncle and grandfather used to talk about. One was the skyhook and the other was Wilt’s 100 points. Therefore, Garnett refused to compare himself to Chamberlin and said that there will be no one like Wilt, as seen in this clip posted by Ben Golliver.

“I thought Wilt was the first pure athlete of basketball being able to take advantage of not just his raw ability…he was a track star and he transcended that into the game of basketball…I see similarities obviously[between himself and Wilt], but I was no athlete like that.”

Gotham Chopra, known for Religion of Sports, has directed the documentary. It has been produced by Content Cartel, Heeltap Entertainment and Happy Madison.

Shaquille O’Neal reacted to Wilt Chamberlain saying he wouldn’t be good back in the day

Ask any NBA fan or any pundit about the most dominant player to ever play the game. The mention of players other than Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain is almost impossible. Chamberlain put up video game numbers during his era. Shaq, on the other hand, played the game with a sense of vengeance and caused ruthless destruction in the paint. His dominance was so intimidating that players were sometimes scared of him. Chamberlain once made a comment about Shaq during an appearance on a talk show. Here is what Wilt said;

“He (Shaquille O’Neal) plays an entirely different basketball game. He uses his physicality, and he’s a big strong young man, and that works well in today’s game. If he was facing me, or other guys of my time, not so good. I’m a guy bench pressing 600 lbs…”

Reacting to the comments made by the former great, Shaq just posted the video on his social media handle but made no comment. Shaq’s silence says a lot about the possible jibe that he felt. Or maybe, he has so much respect for the great that he felt humbled by the comparison.