"He hit you with a flurry of blows" - Kevin Garnett hilariously recounts legendary Minneapolis musician's rough style while playing pick-up hoops
There are talented athletes hiding under the guise of musicians, and one of them is Prince, according to NBA legend Kevin Garnett. In an episode of "Ticket & The Truth," Garnett recounted witnessing the legendary Minneapolis artist excel at basketball.
Garnett reminisced about pickup games with Prince, noting that the musician played with a surprisingly rough and tumble style.
He shared this with Paul Pierce, saying
“He got hands. He hit you with a flurry of blows, brother.”
“He whooped nobody, but I know, I’m from the hood. I know a n***a who runnin’ it. Everybody in there tryna guard him and he in there dropping your a**, gettin’ in your face."
Kevin Garnett mentioned that Prince was better than the average person at basketball and kept his skills a well-guarded secret, inviting only a select few to play at his studio, Paisley Park.
Garnett noted that Prince had a series of moves he excelled in and was very fast.
“Prince was short, small, compact, and fast. On some Mighty Mouse s**t. And hair blowing, Lord! Looking like my sister out there in that motherf***er, giving you work, talking s**t,” he said.
Before the discussion about Prince concluded, Garnett addressed who would be better at basketball, Prince or Michael Jackson, who showcased dribble moves in a 1992 commercial with Michael Jordan.
“I saw that dribble. Going off how he was dribbling, Prince would bone the s**t out of Michael Jackson,” Garnett said.
Kevin Garnett says Prince reminds him of his favorite NBA player to watch
In his autobiography “KG: A to Z,” Kevin Garnett shared that Allen Iverson was his favorite player to watch, explaining that they both came from challenging backgrounds where most kids never achieved their dreams.
"We represented kids who worked their asses off. Kids coming from fewer opportunities. Misunderstood kids. Kids who needed a second chance. Kids plugged into originality. Kids ready to beat out a new path,” Garnett wrote.
“As time went on, AI and I stayed close. As he developed in the NBA, his skill set sharpened to where he became my favorite player to watch."
In 2022, Kevin Garnett compared Prince’s style of play to that of Iverson.
"He was a hooper, talking s**t. Like AI, he was quick as s**t,” Garnett said. “He would be in there busting your a**, talking crazy and everything."
Garnett expressed in his book that if he had played as a guard, he would have wanted to emulate Iverson, whom he described as one of the most genuine people in his life.