Kevin Garnett Says He Wants To Retire with Boston Celtics
By Josh Hill
His name has been swirling in trade rumors ever since point guard Rajon Rondo suffered a season ending ACL injury, but despite the drama, Kevin Garnett has gone on record as saying he loves being a Boston Celtic and he’s like nothing more than to retire with the team.
“On a last note, I just want to say that I love my situation here,” said Garnett. “I don’t know what y’all sources or whoever’s making up these bull—- — articles about me getting traded to Denver and all these other places. But I bleed green and I continue to do that. And if it’s up to me, then I’m going to retire a Celtic. So I just want everybody to know that, alright?”
Garnett currently has a no-trade clause and can block any trade he doesn’t want to be a part of. The reason for Garnett’s impromptu rant about how much he loves being with the Celtics was sparked by numerous rumors floating around that have him being traded elsewhere in the NBA.
Last week it was reported that the Los Angeles Clippers had contacted the Celtics about Garnett and numerous other teams have been linked to the future Hall of Famer.
But Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said while the trade deadline is notorious for activity, he’s not interested in getting involved in a one-sided trade or breaking up the core group of players he’s pieced together over the years.
“I want to see how our team plays over the next little while before the trade deadline, too,” Ainge said. “But I don’t think we’ve had a true test of exactly what team we are yet. And I think that, because I’ve been doing this for 10 years now, but with this group of guys for the last couple of years, I don’t see that much changing. There aren’t a lot of teams that are trying to pursue players of KG and Paul’s age, and I just think that we value them more than other teams value them.”
Basically, Ainge ranted about how teams are eager to get younger while the Celtics are more than content with the current roster they have. How much his mind changes between now and the February 21st trade deadline is yet to be seen, but if a big deal is made, Ainge will have some serious explaining to do after taking such a fierce stance against trading away players like Garnett.