Sporting Sota
Fansided

Kevin Garnett and Allen Iverson? The Duo that could have Been

By Paul Bellesen

Jan 19, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett reacts from the bench during the second half of a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Timberwolves 114-99. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 19, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett reacts from the bench during the second half of a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. The Pelicans defeated the Timberwolves 114-99. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Imagine if Kevin Garnett had another superstar to play with in those later years in Minnesota. It sounds that Allen Iverson knew what the potential could have been.

There are a lot of Minnesota Timberwolves fans that have always thought what could have been? What could have been if Kevin Garnett had another superstar with him during his prime?

We all saw what happened later in Boston when Garnett was paired with superstar teammates. The league was taken over.

In 2003-04, the Minnesota Timberwolves finished 1st in the Western Conference with a 58-24 record. This was the best season in franchise history. The Timberwolves had finally brought in some contributing players to help Garnett with the workload in Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell.

Garnett finished with an MVP award that season. The team ran through the Western conference playoffs and reached the conference finals. They then met the Lakers including Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Gary Payton, and Karl Malone. The personnel they had was not enough to take out that team.

More from Sporting Sota

After that year, the team was on the down turn. They finished the next year missing the playoffs with a 44-38 record. The year after that, Cassell and Sprewell were both gone and the Timberwolves were back under .500 for that year and the next.

Garnett obviously wanted out, and no one could blame him. Players have personal goals and no one can blame him for trying to put himself in the best position to achieve them.

Across the league, there was another star about to be on the move. Philadelphia 76ers point guard Allen Iverson was ready to move on in 2006. “AI” still had gas in the tank and wanted to play with another star who would compliment his game.

According to former Philadelphia 76ers general manager Billy King, Allen Iverson green lit a trade to Minnesota to join KG.

"“He gave me some teams,” King said on Adrian Wojnarowski‘s The Vertical Podcast with Woj. “Denver was one of them. The Clippers were one, I think. There was another one—Minnesota, to go play with KG.”"

Minnesota sports is often leading us to “what could have been?” thoughts. This is another example of that. Adding an elite point guard that could create his own shot and take some of the pressure of KG, would have been near unstoppable.

Iverson is a four time scoring champion, eleven time all star, and NBA MVP. Garnett at the time, was just coming off his MVP season, and was still in the bulk of his prime. These two could have been a lethal package.

Iverson was eventually traded that season to Denver for Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first round picks. They gave up a lot to get him. It would have been interesting to see what the Timberwolves would have put together in exchange for him.

Next: Young Timberwolves Garnering National Attention

We can always have the “what could have been?” conversation. Garnett was a once in a lifetime type player and adding Iverson along side him would have been something extremely fun to watch.

Home/Minnesota Timberwolves