Kevin Garnett lays blame on Glen Taylor for lack of Wolves jersey retirement

Kevin Garnett will not have his jersey retired by the Minnesota Timberwolves anytime soon, and he’s laying the blame on owner Glen Taylor.

Back in February, the Boston Celtics announced they will retire Kevin Garnett‘s No. 5 jersey at some point next season. He won a ring with them in 2008, so the move makes sense. The announcement last weekend of Garnett’s inclusion in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class for 2020 is further confirmation of the honor.

However, Garnett spent his first 12 seasons of his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He established himself as the best player in franchise history, before coming back via a trade in 2015 and playing 38 games for the Wolves in the final season of his career (2015-16).

Garnett returned to Minnesota to play under his first coach, Flip Saunders. Saunders, in his own second run with the franchise, seemed to work hard to bring KG back. Garnett had expressed a desire to get involved with Timberwolves’ ownership, and there have been indications Saunders made him some promises in that regard before his untimely death in October of 2015 after a bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Garnett’s No. 21 is not in the rafters at Target Center. It’s no secret his relationship with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor went sour after he was traded to the Celtics, and if anything, it’s even worse now.

Garnett spoke to Shams Charania of The Athletic for a story published on Tuesday (no subscription required). While it takes two to make a thing go wrong, Garnett clearly blames Taylor for why his Timberwolves’ jersey isn’t retired:

"“Glen knows where I’m at, I’m not entertaining it,” Garnett said. “First of all, it’s not genuine. Two, he’s getting pressure from a lot of fans and, I guess, the community there. Glen and I had an understanding before Flip [Saunders] died, and when Flip died, that understanding went with Flip. For that, I won’t forgive Glen. I won’t forgive him for that. I thought he was a straight up person, straight up business man, and when Flip died, everything went with him.”“But I don’t do business with snakes,” Garnett said. “I don’t do business with snake [expletive]. I try not to do business with openly snakes or people who are snake-like."

Taylor has made plenty of mistakes as Timberwolves’ owner, there’s no denying that. It has been easy to assume Saunders made some promises to Garnett without Taylor’s clear knowledge, regarding partial ownership, etc. But Garnett suggested he and Taylor had a more direct “understanding” that was reneged on when Saunders passed away.

Garnett is not letting go of the idea he was wronged by Taylor, and there’s no sign he’s ever going to let go of that grudge. That means Timberwolves fans will have to do without seeing the franchise properly recognize its greatest superstar ever for a while longer, which is the unfortunate byproduct of the whole thing no matter which side is taken.