By admin 
As raw as Kevin Garnett was when he arrived in the NBA as a preps-to-pros star, it didn’t take him long to get the hang of how things were in the NBA. And by his second season, he had already become an All-Star, averaging 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.
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During the 1997 offseason, the versatile and intense 6’11” forward was ready to cash in on his first big contract. After seeing how fellow big men like Alonzo Mourning and Juwan Howard secured their bags, KG aimed to do the same, having his agent handle negotiations while he stepped away from the game for a vacation in Jamaica.
But much to his surprise, Garnett learned that he had supposedly turned down a hefty $122 million offer – something that he didn’t do.
A vacation that got cut short
Garnett recalled sitting down for breakfast and opening the newspaper to browse through the latest NBA news. However, what he saw in the headlines stunned him.
“I got the USA Today. I pop it open, dog. The s–t goes – first story says, ‘Garnett denies 122.’ And I’m like, ‘What the f–k?'” KG
“Sat up like, ‘What the f–k?’ I had a bowl of fruit in my lap, and I remember it spilled on the s–t. Tapped shorty, ‘Come on, we gotta go.’ And I zoomed home, right?”
“And the problem was I never got to deny anything. You know, the agent did,” he emphasized.
The moment Garnett landed in the United States, he beelined toward his agent to confront him about what transpired.
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“He was like, ‘This is how it goes. This is the process, woo-woo.’ And I was like, ‘Nah.’ So I ain’t really like that. So I fired him. You know what I’m saying? Like, nah,” Garnett said. “‘Cause my movement and me being able to speak for myself was huge for me. I didn’t want somebody speaking for me. I’m right here. I can say it.”
KG wanted to speak for himself
Garnett understood the NBA business enough to know the importance of having an experienced agent. After all, he was only a teenager when he turned pro and had little knowledge about the nuances of a professional’s contract. Yet he felt that, despite his youth, he wanted a voice in the matter.
“I probably would’ve took the 122. But then he was pushing me and really teaching me the business of how basketball, how this all works. And in that, he was like, ‘Nah.’ And then, ‘These the incentives. And then, what’s the vision you have for yourself? And this what we gonna implement right here. And, oh, those things you just named? Okay, we’re gonna put in-we’re gonna put in flight time, we’re gonna put in private charters, we’re gonna put in the vacation,'” Garnett recalled, sharing what his agent had wanted for him.
While it was clear that his agent had nothing but his interests in mind, Garnett believed that he didn’t have to make things so complicated. In his mind, if he wanted something, all he had to do was ask the Minnesota Timberwolves’ decision-makers for it.
“I actually wanted to be the one to just say that I knew my worth and I went for it. You know what I’m saying? That’s what it’s about. If you know you worth something, man, listen, it’s as simple as just asking or just saying for it,” KG stated. “Make that s–t simple.”
Garnett eventually signed a massive six-year, $126,016,300 deal with the Timberwolves, which made headlines at the time as the most lucrative deal in NBA history.
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