Kevin Garnett demanded that the Nets keep Reggie Evans

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were traded on draft night from the Boston Celtics to the Brooklyn Nets. The pieces involved were fuzzy until the moratorium ended, and the trade became official. Initially, reports stated that Reggie Evans was one of the players traded from Brooklyn, but he ended up staying in black and white. So, why was he not involved? Kevin Garnett had a little something to do with it, per Newsday:

"“I won’t go into specific details of what I was wanting and dislikes and everything else when it came to building the business of basketball,” Garnett said before the Nets beat the 76ers, 127-97, in Monday night’s preseason game at Wachovia Center. “But I will say this: One of the key things for me was not only Paul (Pierce) and ‘Jet’ (Jason Terry) coming here with me to make it comfortable, but Reggie Evans had to be on the roster. That was a huge key for me coming here.”"

It makes sense that KG would want Evans around. He is a player that plays hard for every second that he’s out there, and can rebound with the best of them. Not only would that take pressure off of Kevin, but they share similar passion for the game. According to Evans, the two have really hit it off:

"“Me and KG, we’re just clicking,” Evans said. “We are just taking advantage of this moment, and taking advantage of it is winning a championship. Sometimes you’ve got to do the little stuff, always talking to each other, communicating with each other and stuff like that. Everything is a process and we are slowly getting to know each other on the court and off the court. Dapping each other up, all that stuff is coming natural. Ain’t nothing fake about it. It’s all just natural, which is good.”"

Clearly, Garnett saw something in Evans that made him think they would be a great fit, and he was right. Reggie Evans may benefit from learning from KG, so he better soak it all in.