“Felt Some Type of Way”: Kevin Garnett Credits Best Friend For Help After Shocking Teammate Betrayal

The hatchet is buried but the feelings run deep. Kevin Garnett is still hurting from Ray Allen leaving the Boston Celtics all the way back in 2012. NBA fans, particularly the Celtics nation, will recall that chunk of history well. Allen went to the team that was Boston’s biggest rival. It caused serious friction within the former Celtics superteam.

Garnett expressed the whiplash of losing Allen to their mortal enemies during his appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show. It was another teammate who got him out of that slump.

Kevin Garnett still reeling from decade-old hurt

The rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat was at its peak when Ray Allen switched teams after the 2011-12 season. He had a strong partnership with Garnett at that time. So KG took the trade hard. They put their feud behind them when the Celtics came together to retire Garnett’s number. But he’s not over the emotions he felt at that time.

During his appearance on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast, Garnett confessed he “felt some type of way” that Allen chose to go to Miami. He’d have understood if he went to another team but- their biggest rivals! But he knew that Allen sat on that option for a while and was looking at homes in Miami while still in Boston, which hurt Garnett.

His teammate and best friend, Paul Pierce, helped KG refocus. KG, Allen, and Pierce were the superteam that won the 2008 championship, the franchise’s first title in 22 years. When Smith reiterated his old point that Allen was an “enemy” because he went to the biggest rival team, Garnett said the ESPN veteran, “is undeniably in the right.”

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“It took me a minute to get over that. Paul Pierce helped me get over that,” Garnett said, though Pierce also harbored ill will about Allen’s desertion.

The Big Ticket and The Truth are a partnership that lasted. Both are now co-hosts on Showtime Basketball and rarely have a fallout despite their heated debates. All three put it behind them by 2022 as retired players. Garnett explained to Smith why it took a decade to happen.

Kevin Garnett will not lose another friend

In 2022, the Celtics retired KG’s jersey. Allen and Pierce were in the audience, but it was Allen who got a shoutout in Garnett’s speech. “It’s good to see Ray Allen here, real s***. It’s good to see you here, baby,” he told his former teammate. Only a few months earlier, Allen and Garnett were looking extremely aloof at the NBA’s 75th Anniversary celebration.

It was 2020 that changed Garnett’s perspective. He and the NBA community lost Kobe Bryant. He now confessed to Stephen A. Smith that he lost other loved ones to COVID-19 as well. “It actually changed a lot of my perspectives. To say ‘look, people are still here,” Garnett said. Though he admitted he took Allen’s decision “personally.” 

Garnett says he and Allen have come a long way from their fiery NBA playing days. What do you think about their roller-coaster friendship?

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