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Then and Now: Looking at the Kevin Garnett trade

By Drew Mahowald

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Back in mid February, Timberwolves fans everywhere heard some pretty exciting news regarding the best player that has ever put on a Wolves uniform.

Flip Saunders had worked out a trade with the Brooklyn Nets to acquire Kevin Garnett, who would return to Minnesota where he played his first 12 NBA seasons. The Wolves sent forward Thaddeus Young to the Nets in the trade.

There’s no doubt that the return of Garnett re-energized a fanbase that didn’t have much to cheer for. I actually wrote a piece for our friends at Sporting Sota before I started writing for DWW on the energy at Target Center during his return, and man it was unbelievable. The expectation was for Garnett to play the rest of the season and act as a mentor to the younger players on the team, along with putting people in the Target Center seats.

However, this excitement lasted a very short time as Garnett hardly played at all this season for the Wolves due to an injury. In fact, Garnett only played five games this season and didn’t even reach 100 total minutes played for the Wolves this season. Garnett averaged 7.6 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game in under 20 minutes per game for the Wolves this season.

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Meanwhile, Young played a key role for the Nets down the stretch and eventually helped them reach the playoffs as the eighth seed. He averaged just under 30 minutes per game and tallied 14 points per game and 6 rebounds per game for the Nets.

So, this begs the obvious question. Was the trade really worth it?

Supposedly, the belief is that Garnett will sign a new contract and stay on the Timberwolves roster another season. If Garnett can stay healthy for most of next season, he could play a solid role in the rotation and his leadership on the court would be huge, especially defensively. However, I feel that it’s a big “if” regarding Garnett staying healthy another year. The guy would be playing his 21st season in the NBA, and at that age it’s tough to expect anyone to stay healthy for a whole season.

On the other hand, if the Wolves had kept Young for the remainder of this season, that would have likely been it in Minnesota for Young. With the player option he had after this season, he likely would have left for a playoff contender in the offseason. That being said, the Wolves became very thin towards the end of the season, especially at the four and five positions. It would have been really nice to have Young start at the four instead of forcing a bunch of minutes on Adreian Payne. Young was also a leader and mentor during his time in Minnesota and this would’ve been of help down the stretch as well.

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    • Some will argue that this trade has definitely worked out for the better for a number of reasons. A couple of those reasons being that the Wolves earned the best chance at a number one pick and guys like Payne gained a lot of valuable NBA minutes. Others will say that this trade has been a failure because Garnett has hardly played and Young has played a key role on a team that is now in the playoffs.

    For me, I’m still a fan of this trade. Even though Young would’ve been a valuable piece down the stretch this season for the Wolves, the fact that he would’ve likely left and now knowing that Garnett could be returning put me on this side of the argument. Hopefully, Garnett can stay relatively healthy if he does stick around.

    I mean, after all, we are talking about one of the greatest icons in Minnesota sports history. When he was healthy for those five games, there was a different energy among Wolves fans and it would be great to have that next season with Garnett on the roster.

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