No big three era in Boston? No banners at The Garden since 1986?
According to former Warriors GM Chris Mullin, it almost worked out that way because he was on the cusp of a trade that would have brought Kevin Garnett to the “We Believe” Warriors until one of the worst owners in NBA history killed the deal.
Mullin spoke to Ric Bucher about it for a story on those Warriors for Bleacher Report.“It was basically done,” Mullin says. “I was doing an extension with [agent] Andy Miller on Kevin Garnett’s deal. KG liked Baron enough, and we had talked enough. He said, ‘Yo, I’ll do it.’”
A 2007 draft-night three-team deal with the Timberwolves and Charlotte (then the Bobcats) would’ve sent Garnett to the Warriors, Richardson to the Bobcats and picks and talent to the Timberwolves. It fell apart, Mullin says, when then-Warriors owner Chris Cohan dragged his feet and ultimately said no....
“We were making moves to get KG, and then we traded J-Rich for Brandan Wright,” says Matt Barnes, one of the few players aware of Mullin’s plan at the time. “We won more games, but it just wasn’t the same anymore. It all shifted so quickly. The magic was gone.”
This can lead to a lot of fan fiction NBA, what might have been different. Could KG have motivated the mercurial Davis, who at his best was brilliant but was never motivated to bring it — or put in the work needed to bring it — nightly? Would it have mattered with the Kobe Bryant/Pau Gasol Lakers who both won the West (65 games) and the NBA title? What would Boston have done had KG not joined Paul Pierce and Ray Allen?
The one thing this should remind us? Cohan was the second worst owner of his era (Donald Sterling still takes that honor) and Warriors fans should appreciate what they have now because of the desert they went through to get there.