Before he became an NBA legend, Kevin Garnett had to earn his way to the top, and like many other basketball icons, he had to go through the process of completing predraft workouts before he was selected by a team.
Garnett, who was ultimately selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, had a memorable encounter with fellow NBA legend Pat Riley while completing a workout ahead of the draft.
“All the sudden, I heard Pat Riley say, ‘Aw, come on, what the f— are we doin’ in here? Got me waitin’ on a high school guy? Come on! Let’s start this s—,'” Garnett recalled. “And I swear to God…I felt violated. To this day, that s— still bother me.
“… I said it confidently, but I ain’t say it loud ’cause I ain’t wanna f— nun up. I was like, ‘Oh, he don’t know why he here?’ And you could see me go dark. I was like, ‘He don’t know why he here?'”
Garnett explained that he went on to have an electric workout after Riley woke up the beast inside of him.
During his NBA career, Garnett was a very passionate player, and it’s clear that was the case even before he got drafted. He took Riley’s comments personally and used them as fuel.
Riley joined the Miami Heat organization in 1995, the same year that Garnett joined the NBA. The workout in question may have come before Riley was with the Heat.
Garnett became everything the Timberwolves could have hoped for, with the South Carolina native earning a plethora of accolades — including one MVP award — during his time with Minnesota.
Later in his career, he added to his legacy by winning a ring with the Boston Celtics in the same season (2007-08) that he earned Defensive Player of the Year honors.
These days, Garnett is retired, but Riley is still a key figure in the NBA world as the president of the Heat. Riley is hoping to soon lead Miami back to the top of the NBA world, as the franchise hasn’t won a league championship since its Big 3 won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013.
Decades ago, Riley may have been skeptical about the idea of a high school product being worth his time, but Garnett was clearly legit, and he was just one of several special players that ended up going straight from high school to the NBA.