Kevin Garnett could bring players to tears even before defeating them, such was the level of his trash talk. A habit that got the former Boston Celtics star into trouble with multiple players, and one of his most popular beefs was with Andray Blatche. However, that came to an end once the two players landed on the same in Brooklyn Nets and Blatche had a realization about KG.

He revealed this realization during his appearance on Above the Rim podcast. The conversation started with Blatche mentioning he got his nickname — Dray Live — from Garnett himself. The man Blatche once hated, also admitted by him on the podcast and quite already known to the basketball enthusiasts. “I used to hate KG For real… That’s the one person that can get under my skin every time I played him… Anytime he messed up, it was about to be a scuffle. I wanted to put my hands on him so bad…” he said.

However, further in the podcast that off the court, the 2x NBA champ was a completely different man. A funny man, in fact. Also, Dray realized during his time on the Nets with Kevin Garnett that KG was talking to himself. “I forgave him after realizing he wasn’t talking to me… He hyping himself up. But he’s still disrespecting you, but hyping himself up,” he revealed. Notably, the rivalry between Garnett and Blatche primarily developed at the time when KG is said to have brought Dray almost to tears.

As per a 2010 Washington Post game recap, Dray seemed to be holding back his tears while explaining his encounter with the 2x NBA champ. The encounter got heated when the ex-Celtics star approached the Wizards star and tried wrestling the ball away from him. “Blatche later flung Garnett into a cameraman and sent him to the foul line for two free throws. Garnett smiled as he was helped off the ground. Reserve forward James Singleton said Garnett used his “veteran senses” to needle Blatche and get under his skin,” further read the article.

The time Kevin Garnett willingly made his own fans hate him

KG’s teammate from the Celtics, Paul Pierce, himself shared this incident in a 2015 BR article. Pierce revealed that during a matchup, Garnett asked Joakim Noah if he could rub through his hair, like a girl. The Truth recalled that the trash talk by the ex-Celtics star actually was not going well with Noah.

“I remember Noah looked up to KG. He was like, ‘Man, KG, I had your poster on my wall. I looked up to you, man.’ And then [Garnett] just said something like that, and was like ‘F— you, Noah.'” Pierce recollected. Even the 10x All-Star was in shock at his teammate’s response towards a rookie who was once his fan.

And a 2010 interview made it clear that Noah lost all the respect that he had for Kevin Garnett. “He’s a very mean guy… Where’s the love? None at all. Ugly, too,” he said of KG. But this hardly had any effect on the 2x NBA champ, as he even once tried biting Noah in a 2014 matchup. At least this incident makes it clear it was not always all about self-talk with KG, as Blatche recently claimed.

Stay tuned for more such updates. Join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.