At this point, Garnett is almost more coach than player as he enters his 22nd season in the NBA. The 40-year-old played in only 38 games last season, sitting out the final 37 contests with what the team called “knee soreness.” Garnett, who will make more than $8 million this season in the final year of his two-year contract, is essentially around to facilitate the development of Karl-Anthony Towns and the rest of Minnesota’s promising young core. The expectation is that Garnett will again serve in a reduced role this season, but he has yet to formally confirm whether he’ll return to the team or call it career. Either way, he’s no longer on the radar for fantasy purposes.
Garnett enters his 21st NBA season back where it all started: Minnesota. Last year, the 39-year-old played 42 games with Brooklyn before being sent home to the Timberwolves at the trade deadline. In his 47 total games in 2014-15, he averaged 6.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steal, and 0.4 blocks in 20 minutes per game while shooting 48 percent from the floor and 80 percent from the free-throw line. Early indications from Minnesota are that he will hover around the 20-minute mark yet again as a starter for the team, though he is unlikely to play in back-to-backs and will be subject to frequent rest. Like many of the Timberwolves' veteran players, Garnett's main job will be to mentor the promising young players on the roster, a situation that isn't all that attractive for fantasy purposes as it saps Garnett of any potential upside he could have mustered. As long as he is healthy, Garnett will get his run, but with potential availability issues looming and uninspiring production coming when he does play, this living-legend is probably only of interest to those in very deep formats.
The 38-year-old Garnett returns for what will, in all likelihood, be his final NBA season. He's in the final year of a three-year deal that will pay him $12 million in 2014-15. An extremely productive player for the better part of 15 years, Garnett finally showed signs of a major regression in 2013-14. His scoring averaged dipped below double-figures for the first time in his career, and he averaged his fewest rebounds since his rookie season in 1995-96. In 54 games (all starts), Garnett averaged 6.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while playing 21 minutes per game. For much of the season, Garnett was held out of one game of back-to-back sets in order to rest a back issue that plagued him throughout the season. With another year of mileage on his body, Garnett's playing time will likely again be closely monitored under new coach Lionel Hollins. It's unclear whether he'll receive scheduled nights off again, but the Nets will certainly try to avoid overworking the veteran. While Garnett currently projects as the starting power forward, that role could certainly be usurped at some point by second-year forward/center Mason Plumlee, who played with Team USA at the 2014 FIBA World Cup. Garnett has only come off the bench 37 times in 1,377 career games, but at the rate he regressed last season, Hollins, who is notorious for playing veterans over unproven young players, could be forced to bring Garnett in as a reserve.
Garnett finished his final year with the Celtics averaging 14.8 points (50 percent from the field, 79 percent from the line), 7.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.9 blocks. It's evident that the veteran is on the decline portion of his career, but Garnett looks to continue competing in the 2013-14 season on a revamped Brooklyn Nets team. Garnett will be heading into his 19th season at the age of 37, and it is possible that this coming year may be one of his last fantasy relevant seasons. Garnett is likely to start at the power forward position alongside center Brook Lopez in the frontcourt. With Lopez not known to be the strongest rebounder at his position, Garnett may still have opportunities to put up solid rebounding numbers. His defense has remained consistently solid throughout his entire career, and expecting steals and blocks at a frequent basis would not be unreasonable. With numerous scoring options at the offensive end, Garnett's touches may be limited, having a reciprocal effect of decreased scoring, but possibly increased efficiency. The forward averages 50 percent shooting from the field and 79 percent shooting from the line over his career, and those seem to be a reasonable goal for Garnett in his first season on the Nets.
While he may no longer be an elite fantasy big man, Garnett proved to still have plenty left in his tank during the 2011-12 season. After a rash of injuries to the Celtics’ frontcourt, Garnett was asked to slide over to center and carry the load for the team in the post. The 36-year-old responded by averaging 15.8 points per game – his highest mark since the 2008-09 season. His offensive output even improved as the season wore on, resulting in a 17.0 scoring average after the All-Star break. He also continued to be useful on the boards and defense, pulling down 8.2 rebounds per game while adding 1.0 blocks and 0.9 steals. His shooting percentage was a steady 50.3 percent, but Garnett’s value really shined at the charity stripe as he shot 85.7 percent, which was the third-highest percentage in the league at the power forward/center position. Boston drafted two young big men (Jared Sullinger, Fab Melo) and will have Jeff Green and Chris Wilcox back from injury, so Garnett won’t be asked to carry as big of a load going forward, but he still remains a valuable fantasy commodity.
Despite no longer being an elite fantasy option, Garnett continues to provide strong production as he enters the twilight of his career. The 35-year-old future Hall-of-Famer averaged 14.9 points and 8.9 rebounds while hitting 52.8 percent of his field goal attempts and a career-high 86.2 percent of his freebies. He once again anchored the Celtics stellar team defense, finishing with averages of 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. Garnett missed a couple of weeks in January with a muscle strain in his right leg, but the veteran big man remained relatively healthy for the season, especially considering his age and the mileage on his legs. The Celtics once again did a good job of limiting his minutes and giving him periodic rest to keep him fresh, so expect that trend to continue at this stage of his career. Don’t let his name fool you into thinking he’ll return to the glory years of his past, but don’t discount Garnett too much on draft day, either. Like his contemporary Tim Duncan, Garnett is past his prime, but he continues to provide value in real-life and fantasy.
The days of Kevin Garnett being a top-five fantasy pick are long gone. The inescapable problem that eventually hits all athletes – "too many miles on the odometer" – has robbed him of the explosiveness that once made him one of the league's unstoppable players. Even at age 34, and with 14 NBA seasons on his resume, Garnett has something to offer fantasy teams, provided owners set their expectations appropriately. KG won't play 82 games – in the last three seasons he's played 71, 57 and 69. He probably won't play 30 minutes – especially with the Celtics adding Shaquille O'Neal and Jermaine O'Neal to the frontcourt and with Glen "Big Baby" Davis developing into a legit-but-undersized option at the four. He won't give you 20-and-10 – he hasn't averaged 20 or 10 since 2006-07. But if you adjust for the fact that he'll play something under 30 minutes per night and probably get a fair amount of nights off even if he isn't injured, he'll give you very respectable totals in points, boards, blocks, steals and percentages.
A knee injury cost Garnett 25 games last season, and while he’s expected to be fully recovered by training camp, durability will only become more of a concern at this stage of his career. Garnett is 33 years old – not ancient, but he does have a lot of mileage on his legs since he came straight out of high school. He has already accrued 1,055 games played throughout his career. Even before going down with the injury last year, Garnett was averaging career-lows (since his rookie season) in points (15.8), assists (2.5), steals (1.1) and blocks (1.2). It’s a major concern moving forward. The good news is Garnett will no longer cost a first round pick in most fantasy leagues. Even if Garnett is past his prime, he’s still able to fill the stat sheet like few others, and he keeps himself in such good shape, a total breakdown is unlikely. Nonetheless, with the Celtics main goal being a championship, and new arrival Rasheed Wallace expected to play a significant front-court role, expect further reduced minutes for Garnett in 2009-10.
No one’s really talking about KG as top overall pick in fantasy leagues any more – but we’re guessing he doesn’t mind all that much. Playing with elite teammates for the first time in… forever, Garnett played just 32.8 minutes per game – his lowest total in 12 seasons. His other numbers took a similar dive, as he failed to crack 20 points, 10 boards or four times for the first time in a decade. On the other hand, that he didn’t need to carry the team on his shoulders freed Garnett to take better shots, as evidenced by a career-best 53.9 shooting percentage, and make better decisions – he posted his lowest turnover average since his rookie year. The dip in his numbers will probably cause KG to slide quite a bit in this year’s drafts – but don’t forget: Garnett still is still a valuable contributor in nearly every fantasy category. Don’t compare him to his numbers from seasons past – judge Garnett’s production against the rest of the power forwards in the league, and you’ll see he’s still a very attractive option.
It is still hard to picture Garnett in Celtic green this season, but it’s easy to picture him as one of the first picks in any fantasy draft. Joining Paul Pierce and Ray Allen in Boston could actually improve his already lofty statistical production. The current Celtics roster has several similarities with the 2003-04 Wolves: three big scorers to keep defenses honest, a supporting cast that allows the Big Three to take the majority of the shots, and a defensive role player at center that clogs the paint and allows Garnett more room to roam. During that season KG led the NBA in total points and rebounds, set a career-high in blocked shots, and was the runaway choice for NBA MVP. While he’s on the wrong side of 30, playing on a team with championship aspirations after three straight lottery seasons should help rejuvenate him. Even if big scorers Pierce and Allen do cut into Garnett’s shots, any drop in scoring would likely be offset by a spike in his assists and an increase in his shooting percentage.
Garnett has been the poster child for consistent fantasy production for a decade. Mr. 20-10-5 had his record-setting streak of six consecutive years reaching that milestone snapped last season while averaging four-year lows in each category (21.8 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 4.1 apg), but a closer examination suggests that adjusting to new teammates may have been a factor. When matched with shooter Wally Szczerbiak and rebounder Eddie Griffin early on, KG sported his 5.0 apg but grabbed only 10.7 rpg. After the midseason trade that brought in fewer shooters and rebounders, Garnett averaged only 3.4 apg, but his rebounds ballooned to 14.8 rpg. With scorers like Mike James and Randy Foye added this offseason but still no rebounding help look for KG’s assists to recover while he maintains his lofty rebounding. Garnett also set new career-bests in field goal percentage (53%) and free throw percentage (81%), was one of only five players in the NBA with 100-plus blocks and 100-plus steals (G. Wallace, B. Wallace, S. Marion, A. Kirilenko), and one of only two players in the NBA to be top-50 in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks (L. James). In other words, KG should be near the top of your fantasy cheat sheets again this year.
Don't be scared off by the sore knee that hampered Garnett a bit midway through the 2004-2005 season; the Big Ticket should still be the No. 1 overall pick in any fantasy league. Garnett's scoring average went down a bit from 2003-04, but he still averaged 22.2 per game, good for 13th in the league, and with chuckers Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell off the team, Garnett may get some more shots this season. KG shot for the highest percentage of his career from both the floor and the line in 2004-5, and he led the league in rebounding, grabbing double-digit boards 69 out of 82 games played. Throw in more assists than many starting point guards, about a block and a half and a steal and half per game, and you've got the best fantasy player out there. It's hard to believe KG has been in the league for 11 years already, but he's still just 29, and has many great years ahead of him.
You know that commercial, where KG carries what appears to be the better part of the population of Minneapolis on his shoulders? He has the potential to carry your fantasy team, too. His game has no downside - look at his 2004 numbers: 24.2 points, nearly 14 boards, five assists, 2.2 blocks, 1.5 steals - and all this with percentages of nearly 50% from the floor and 80% from the line. Some thought his numbers would suffer slightly once the T'Wolves brought in the likes of Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell. Instead, Garnett was a near-unanimous MVP. Got the first pick in the draft? Look no further - here's your guy.
Garnett is coming off the best year of his career with career highs in points (23.0 ppg), rebounds (13.4 rpg) and assists (6.0 apg). The T-Wolves offseason moves finally brought in talent to reduce the burden on him to score. As a result, expect a slight decrease in his points and assists, but his rebounds and blocks could increase as he benefits from an improved defense.
