The phrase ‘Never meet your heroes’ rang true for Joakim Noah during his rookie NBA season. He came into the league fresh off of back-to-back NCAA championships and was drafted 9th overall in 2007 by the Chicago Bulls. However, Joakim would soon be humbled during his first regular season matchup against Kevin Garnett.
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The two-time All-Star joined Zach Randolph and Tony Allen on their podcast where he discussed his firsthand experience of KG’s iconic trash-talk. “Ticket was a guy, like, I had his poster in my room. He was the guy that I looked up to coming up,” Noah revealed on ‘Out the Mud‘.
As such, the first on-court battle against Garnett was a big moment for him. One that he tried to communicate with the Big Ticket himself.
“And I remember telling him like — there was like 10 seconds left in the game, we down, getting smoked my first year — and I said something like, ‘I really respect you.’ I tried to say it so humbly and so respectfully, you know what I’m saying?”
Unfortunately, Noah was about to receive a rude awakening. The tenacity and passion with which Garnett approached the game made him a fierce competitor; one that didn’t take kindly to gestures of respect from opponents he had just beaten.
“He stunt on me so f***ing crazy like, ‘Yo, who the f*** you think you’re talking to rook?’ And I was like, ‘Holy s**t!’ That s**t shocked me,” the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year shared.
Noah admitted that Garnett’s words rang in his head throughout the following summer. He felt embarrassed by the interaction and was intent on getting the better of his idol during their next matchup. Unfortunately, KG’s Celtics would sweep the season series against the Bulls during Noah’s rookie year and he would have to wait until his third season to register a win against the Big Ticket. In 24 career matchups, Noah would win 10 times against Garnett.
Kevin Garnett buried the hatchet with Joakim Noah
Last year, KG invited the New York native to his podcast where they discussed their complicated history. That conversation gave Garnett the opportunity to share his version of events from their first interaction.
“I was trying to destroy your will,” the 2008 NBA champion told Noah. “But never in another stratosphere would I ever have thought you was a fan of mine. So I come today and I say, I apologize for killing that light, my brother.”
On the court it’s war, but off it’s a brotherhood. Honored to share this moment with @JoakimNoah 🫡💯 https://t.co/FRsxp6ZkwY
— Kevin Garnett (@KevinGarnett5KG) May 21, 2023
The first interaction between Garnett and Noah would quickly extinguish the latter’s fandom. However, it certainly didn’t kill Noah’s light. As he mentioned, the trash-talk from his idol drove Joakim to working harder over the off-season and even led to him inheriting some of KG’s trademark intensity.
He revealed how, later in their careers, the two would face off when Noah was in his prime and Garnett was older and injured. But with their first conversation still ringing in his head, Noah found no sympathy for the veteran. “I became f***ed up because of him,” the Bulls legend revealed on ‘Out the Mud’. “Oh, you hurt? F*** it.”
Cutthroat as it may be, that intensity would help Joakim anchor Chicago’s defense during the Derrick Rose years, etching his name in NBA history as one of the most unique centers of all time.
