This week marks the one decade anniversary of the most important Celtics trade of this millennium.
On July 31st, 2007, Danny Ainge and old friend Kevin McHale struck a deal sending 10-time all-star Kevin Garnett to Boston. Before the deal, Garnett had been a perennial All-NBA selection, but his Timberwolves still struggled. The team had only made it out of the first round once in his twelve seasons. Minnesota was plagued by the inability to find or develop a second star. This constant failure made Garnett open to the idea of playing on a loaded team in Boston.
KG earned five more all-star nods in Boston, winning DPOY and All-NBA honors in 2008. He was the vocal and emotional leader for the Celtics 2008 championship team, and he was the anchor of their top ranked defense.
Garnett and Ray Allen‘s additions revived a Celtic fan base that had been depressed for nearly two decades. Garnett was the consummate professional when he entered Boston, agreeing to play second banana behind Paul Pierce. While in Boston, KG became a savvy passer and an automatic mid range shooter.
What gets overlooked in the KG story was how it ended. Garnett agreed to waive his no trade clause in the infamous 2013 move that sent him to Brooklyn. The Nets and C’s had initially agreed on a Pierce-only trade. This purposed trade would have yielded only one Brooklyn draft pick and some spare pieces. Without Garnett’s inclusion in the deal, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Terry Rozier could all be playing in Brooklyn right now.
Whether Garnett’s number 5 should be retired is a point of debate amongst Celtics fans, but his value between 2007 through 2013 are undisputed.
Minnesota received the bad end of the deal.
In return for KG, the C’s sent back Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff, and draft picks that would turn into Jonny Flynn and Wayne Ellington. The rest, as they say, is history.
Jefferson, the cornerstone piece in the 2007 deal, has been hampered by knee injuries and a growing NBA trend away from his lumbering post-up game. Jefferson has had a long career, but he never turned into the superstar that the Timberwolves hoped he could become.
Flynn was a highly coveted guard out of Syracuse. The Wolves drafted him with the 6th overall pick in 2009, passing on the likes of Steph Curry and DeMar DeRozan. Flynn’s career prematurely ended with a torn hip labrum injury that I detailed a few weeks ago, comparing it to Isaiah Thomas’s current situation.
Telfair never lived up to his hype as one of the top prospects in NBA history. He and Green lasted only one season with the Wolves.
Ratliff was 34 at the time of the trade, and managed to appear in only ten games for Minnesota. Gomes fulfilled his role player duties in Minneapolis, but was never a vital player. Ellington has found most of his career success after leaving the Timberwolves.