“Just go look at the stats the next season of players that come out of the Olympics… watch how the careers have went this way [upward trajectory], Dwyane Wade recently credited the Olympics preparation as the key to any player’s growth. Seems like Kevin Garnett would attest to the lines with his recent theory concerning LeBron James playing for the national team.

The Boston Celtics’ legend’s KG Certified, uploaded a clip on Instagram with the caption, “LeBron James may have more on his mind than just Olympic gold. 🤔.” Garnett, on the podcast, goes on to explain his theory on why LeBron and Kevin Durant are participating, while also drawing comparisons with Anthony Edwards.

“This is my theory on why they jumped in the USA because you can never get in game shape in the summer on your own. Anthony Edwards made this jump because of the USA basketball last year. That workout, that temperature I called this early too.”

That was the 2023 FIBA World Cup where Ant-man managed to score 18.9 points on average. Coming to the league then, Edwards averaged 25.9 points and 5.1 assists across the 79 games and made it to his second All-Star honor.

According to Kevin Garnett, LeBron also joined Team USA to attain peak physical fitness. But also alongside elite-level competition during the practice. “I’m gonna tell you with LeBron and everybody being older, you have to start a little, a little earlier to get your body going in the summer. And when they come into USA, it’s gonna be about preparing for that first week, and getting for that first push of the season.”

At age 39, King James becomes the oldest basketball player from the USA to make it to the Olympics. After being a part of 2 gold-winning teams and one bronze, he decided to pass on 2 Olympics that came next. Returning after a over decade, the 4x champion joins just two more from his previous team and according to Garnett, they have one more role to play.

Only 3 players from the Olympic 2012 team are participating in the upcoming Paris Olympics for Team USA. Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James. If and when the reigning gold medalists retain their title, Durant will be at the top of men’s list of gold winners (4).

Kevin Garnett concludes his theory saying, apart from getting fit for the NBA season, they joined the team to pass the torch to the next generation. “Like Kobe did for them.”

Before passing the gold of information, Kobe Bryant passed on an opportunity to play with Kevin Garnett.

Kobe Bryant rejected Kevin Garnett as a teammate

Firstly, let’s look at Kevin Garnett’s desire to play alongside Kobe. “I looked at it like this. I was like, man, I got one chance at this s***, right? I had Oakland, I had Phoenix, I had the Lakers, and I had the Celtics. And I’m just being honest with everybody. I wanted to link with Kobe because Kobe and I had like…a different connect.”

Explaining his connection, he stated that even during the Kobe-Shaq feud, which led to O’Neal being traded, KG was neutral at the time. Kobe’s former teammate shed light on why he refused to pair up with Kevin Garnett, regardless.

Speaking about the same Shaq-Kobe feud, Matt Barnes explained that Kobe did not call KG to not form another MVP-winning duo. “He definitely wanted to play for the Lakers, he said, uh, Kobe wouldn’t call him back cuz I don’t think Kobe wanted the superstar. He wanted to do his own thing without Shaq,” Barnes told Paul George 3 months ago.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting pilot episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and SEC All-Freshman Team Selection, Silas Demary Jr.”