Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Former Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves star big man Kevin Garnett said that Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James’ influence could stop the war between Israel and Hamas.
“He got the world, bro,” Garnett said around the 45:30 mark. “He wanna go to China and do something, he wanna — Lord can probably stop the war right now if he wanted to. If Bron wanted to, man, ‘Y’all stop fighting, man. Y’all chill out, man. Everybody chill.’ That’s how strong Bron is right now. If Bron actually got the facts of this whole thing, stood up, and like, ‘Yo, okay, look, let’s get a n—- some money. Everybody chill out, man. Here, everybody fall back. Man, bring that tequila out, man. Give everybody a shot. Just calm everybody down.’”
Garnett faced off against James in the playoffs several times when the former was a member of the Celtics franchise. The two players had some epic battles over the years and were sometimes in each other’s way of reaching the NBA Finals.
The 6-foot-11 big man played for the Timberwolves, Celtics and Brooklyn Nets across his 21 seasons in the NBA. He spent 14 seasons with the Timberwolves, who drafted him out of high school with the No. 5 overall pick of the 1995 NBA Draft.
He played for the Timberwolves for the first 12 seasons of his NBA career before he was dealt to the Celtics in the summer of 2007 to team up with stars Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Garnett, Pierce and Allen led the Celtics to the 2008 NBA title. Boston eliminated Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in six games in the NBA Finals.
After Garnett was dealt to the Nets in the summer of 2013, he spent the final three seasons of his pro career playing for Brooklyn and then the Timberwolves before retiring from the NBA after the 2015-16 season. He averaged 3.2 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in 38 appearances with Minnesota during his final season in the NBA.
For his career, the Hall of Famer averaged a double-double (17.8 points and 10.0 rebounds per game).
Garnett may have been exaggerating when he said that James could stop the war between Israel and Hamas. But James is one of the biggest names in sports today and certainly has an influence not only on people in America, but all around the world.