3/13/99
Kevin Garnett had heard the charge before, and the look on his face and the words he chose to discuss it appeared to convey an awkward mix of sadness, embarrassment, annoyance and impatience.
Stephon Marbury wanted to leave Minnesota for a number of reasons, the story goes, but one of the most compelling allegedly was Garnett. To hear team insiders tell it, the Timberwolves forward's $126 million contract, his bundle of skills and his charisma were too much for Marbury to handle. Driven to be a star, Marbury couldn't accept being a sidekick or worse, second fiddle.
Garnett had heard it before in whispers. But in the wake of Marbury's trade to New Jersey on Thursday and statements by coach Flip Saunders and vice president Kevin McHale, it suddenly was being shouted.
Now, Garnett had to respond.
"I know Stephon," he said, speaking softly. "I know we're always in competition with each other, whether it's basketball, girls, jewelry. I thought that was just having fun."
It was, instead, a rivalry that bordered on jealousy, perhaps even resentment of Garnett's All-Star status, Olympic invitations and, most of all, money.
"I haven't necessarily got that vibe from him," Garnett continued. "Some people thought that was the case. I don't understand how someone can be mad at me when they've got the same opportunities that I had."
He paused, thought again about his buddy, sidekick, former teammate and, it seems, rival.
"I need someone to sit down and justify that to me," Garnett said. "We had the same opportunities. This is our team. If he's got a problem or it's bothering him, I don't understand that. They were going to take care of him the same way they take care of me."
Actually, the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement - born in part out of the breathtaking contract Garnett signed in October 1997 - imposes maximum salaries on players. The most Marbury could have received was a six-year, $71 million deal.
That's the deal Marbury signed Friday, too - with the New Jersey Nets. Had he stayed with the Wolves, though, the spectre of that missing $55 million would have been too much for him to tolerate.
"[New] rules put a limit on, or whatever, in his case," Garnett said. "But where else are you going to go and get [more]? It's a can't-win situation."
Never mind the absurdity of $71 million being turned into some sort of insult. What mattered was how Marbury felt about himself, his place within the team and Garnett.
"I always say your greatest strength is your greatest weakness," Saunders said before the Wolves' game Friday night against the Sacramento Kings. "Stephon was always wanting to be the best, wanting to be No. 1. He had a tough time dealing with Kevin."
Veteran forward Sam Mitchell has heard sillier things in his time, just not recently. "I don't know about all that. Whatever," Mitchell said. "There's room enough for two, there's room enough for three, there's room enough for everybody. But if somebody just doesn't want to be here, there's nothing we can do."
Garnett, the grizzled veteran of the Wolves, has had plenty of teammates come and go. At the ripe old age of 22, he ranks first among the players in seniority with the club.
He got a chance, he said, to say goodbye to Marbury Thursday after the deal was announced. "Steph came to my room, knocked on my door, had a few things to say," Garnett said. "I looked at him, hugged him, [tapped] him on the forehead and told him, y'know, good luck."
In truth, though, Garnett knew Marbury was gone two days earlier, when the Wolves faced Seattle on Tuesday at Target Center. There had been enough smoke around the point guard and management to find the fire.
"When we were shooting around, and before the introductions, I sort of told him what I had to say then and there," Garnett said. "I knew that was going to be the last time we played at home. I knew that was the last time we were on that floor together in the same jerseys."
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