The NBA World Is Trying Hard To Come To Terms With Kevin Garnett’s Retirement

On Friday afternoon, it was announced that Kevin Garnett had reached a buyout deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves and would retire before the start of the 2016-17 season. For many, Garnett was more than just a basketball player, he accelerated the culture and exceeded any and all expectations for a kid who came straight out of high school.

Garnett is joining Tim Duncan and Kobe Bryant in retirement, a triumvirate of world-class ballers who left the league in a better place than when they found it. Despite it being time for Garnett to let the game go, it still hurts knowing that we’ll never see him play basketball again. You can tell from the well wishers that despite the fact we all knew it was coming, it’s still hard to contemplate. There will be no Big Ticket next season, and we’ll all be worse off without him pounding his head against the basket stanchion to get amped for the game.

His teammate on the Timberwolves, Karl-Anthony Towns, summed it up nicely right after the news broke:

And here’s why the two have such a special bond:

ESPN’s Zach Lowe hit the nail on the head with this assessment of KG’s dominance on the defensive end:

And Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck lamented the loss of yet another NBA superstar this summer:

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