Kevin Garnett is making the media rounds these days. He is promoting his new memoir KG: A to Z: An Uncensored Encyclopedia of Life, Basketball, and Everything in Between.
Garnett famously made the jump from high school straight to the NBA in 1995. That doesn’t mean that college basketball programs didn’t try to change his mind before it was too late. He writes about the recruiting process in the book and shared some of the illicit benefits he was offered at that time with Dan Patrick on Friday on FOX Sports Radio.
Patrick asked point blank what Garnett was offered by various recruiters.
“A lot of cash, for my mother and my family to have better opportunities, to meet some of the most powerful people in the world, whatever that meant,” Kevin Garnett answered.
He then shared a story that certainly one recruiter will never forget. Garnett’s mother sent him to live with his grandmother during his senior year of high school. She was worried both herself and her son were being overwhelmed by the attention of college recruiters. Garnett’s grandmother didn’t believe all attention and offers were good things.
“I had a certain recruiter come see me and he offered me some cash in front of my grandma,” Garnett told Patrick. “She went and got a shotgun. She told me to always set the tone with people that you can never be bought, because if you can be bought once, you can be bought always.”
He tried to gloss over the story like it was no big deal. Dan Patrick wouldn’t let that fly. He asked Garnett how the recruiter reacted to the shotgun.
“I had to tell him to get his bag and get the hell up outta here, or else him and his bag were never gonna make it outta here,” Garnett answered.
No names were used. Kevin Garnett said that the recruiter is still active in college basketball. They even cross paths occasionally and Garnett says he always offers a wink when they do.
