Kevin Garnett goes off while acknowledging Nikola Jokic as best player in NBA: "Wilt Chamberlain rolling over his grave"
Kevin Garnett and Stephen A. Smith had a very fun time together during an episode of Smith's podcast on Friday.
Garnett implicitly gave a hot take on the best player in the NBA right now and added that Wilt Chamberlain, who has long passed away, would not believe it:
"Listen. Wilt Chamberlain is rolling over his grave right now if we told him a 6-10 power forward was playing center and jumping this high is the best."
While he did not mention a specific name, Kevin Garnett was apparently referring to Nikola Jokic.
While he was sounding off, Garnett gestured something that resembled a small "C", apparently referring to the fact that Jokic is not known for having the hops.
After he sounded off, Garnett walked out of their Zoom call for a moment, which drew laughs from Smith.
Kevin Garnett says it's time to embrace modern-day NBA
On returning to his chair, Kevin Garnett sounded off, this time alluding to those who have been following the NBA for a long time.
Garnett told Smith:
"Steve, I say this, bro, and I say this to the world. I'm glad we're on here. Bro, we got to get over this. Michael Jordan, Magic (Johnson), they are the past. We got to embrace this newish. Bro, we ain't never seen nothing like Steph Curry... Bro, we keep talking about Jerry West.
"Shoutout to Jerry West. He was a super goon and did great things for the league, but we're in a new time, bro. Jerry West ain't never seen this type of range."
Smith stopped Garnett for a bit and was about to say something while telling him that he did not disagree with him, but Garnett continued with his "pipebomb":
"We need to embrace this greatness that's before us. Excuse my French, but f**k what happened last year. If we want to make some parodies, some comparisons to 'You know what? He did it in 82. He played 65,' I get that.
"Non-practice versus practice, the development, and what he should be like at 27, bro, all that's out the lead now. Boy, these young boys are killing all that. Bro, LeBron (James) just hit 39,000 points. Bro, we ain't never seen nobody hit it."
Smith finally got to speak for longer and reminded Garnett to continue looking at the past, standing firm in his belief that Jordan is the greatest of all time and James is second.