Garnett agrees to contract extension from the Wolves - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Tony tha Mavs fan · 10-01-2003, 03:11 PM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Forward Kevin Garnett has agreed to a contract extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team announced Wednesday.

Team owner Glen Taylor had said that if the two sides could not reach an agreement before the season started Oct. 29, he would prefer to halt negotiations until after the season to avoid the distraction.

Terms of the deal were not immediately announced. A news conference was scheduled for later Wednesday.

By league rules, Garnett is limited to a five-year extension. Garnett will make $28 million in 2003-04, the final year of a six-year, $126 million deal.

The Wolves made several moves this summer in an attempt to avoid an eighth consecutive loss in the opening round of the playoffs and make the team more attractive to Garnett.

Minnesota acquired shooting guard Latrell Sprewell from New York, point guard Sam Cassell from Milwaukee and signed center Michael Olowokandi as a free agent from the Los Angeles Clippers.

Garnett, Wally Szczerbiak and Troy Hudson are the only players who are certain to come back this year as the new-look Wolves try to move up in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

``I think everybody's excited about the year,'' Garnett said Monday. ``Everybody's looking forward to seeing how we're going to look.''

Updated on Wednesday, Oct 1, 2003 3:39 pm EDT

Murphy3 · 10-01-2003, 03:12 PM

isn't he signing with the rockets?

madape · 10-01-2003, 03:23 PM

I only hope that this puts an end to Garnett fantasy trades

Garnett for Nash, Finley, and Raef?

TRADE ACCEPTED!

Drbio · 10-01-2003, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: madape
I only hope that this puts an end to Garnett fantasy trades

Garnett for Nash, Finley, and Raef?

TRADE ACCEPTED!

amen.

kg_veteran · 10-01-2003, 03:36 PM

Nothing will put an end to that. After all, Garnett could become disgruntled when the T-Wolves go out in the first round yet again.

EricaLubarsky · 10-01-2003, 04:21 PM

who was the last moron to post the question, "where will Garnett be at the end of the season"?

Was there ever any doubt that he would be with Minnesota for a lot longer?

Murphy3 · 10-01-2003, 04:23 PM

ha...forgot about that EL..
you'll be my favorite if you dig it up for me.

u2sarajevo · 10-01-2003, 04:53 PM

done.... check out the Mavs section...

Murphy3 · 10-01-2003, 05:34 PM

thanks U2

jayC · 10-01-2003, 06:30 PM

Erica,
Obvioiusly it was about the money. He has been in a rerun for six years six straight one and done. Its not about to change this year with the combustible players they have on minnesotas roster. No way in hell it changes this season.

Its just maybe a multimillionaire could take a cut in pay to win a championship. Aka Alex rodriguez could have won a world series with seattle.

MFFL · 10-01-2003, 06:42 PM

The initial numbers are 5 years and 100 million - obviously it could be wrong but if they are true then it is a great deal for the Wolves.

Nash13 · 10-02-2003, 03:23 PM

Didn't want to make a separate thread, but here it is:

Kilborn to run with the Timberwolves
Added: 1st October, 2003 9:35 AM ET

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Hastings native Craig Kilborn will suit up with the Minnesota Timberwolves next week. "The Late Late Show" host, who played for Montana State University, was officially invited to join the squad by coach Flip Saunders on Monday night's show, although the visit has been in the works for weeks.

"I am excited about having Craig join us at training camp," Saunders said. "I hope he is in shape and prepared for this. He better not expect any preferential treatment, either."

Kilborn will practice with Kevin Garnett, Latrell Sprewell and the rest of the team on Monday and Tuesday at the Wolves' training camp in St. Cloud.

"Two words for you: bounce pass," Kilborn said. "I have two more words for you: groin pull."

mavs_afroman · 10-02-2003, 04:56 PM

What was KG thinking? Why stay locked up with the Wolves for six more years. It can't be because he know's that he's on a championship caliber team or that the media loves him so much. If I were him I'd be looking forward to having the chance to go somewhere else even if I didn't take it.

harsh euro barge · 10-02-2003, 05:32 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baske...contract_x.htm

this might be just plain untrue, but 5 years, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY NINE MILLION DOLLARS for someone who can't even get out of the first round??

Murphy3 · 10-02-2003, 05:43 PM

Garnett staying put with five-year extension

By Roscoe Nance, USA TODAY
MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Garnett tightened his grip on the title of highest-paid NBA player Wednesday, signing a five-year contract extension with the Minnesota Timberwolves believed to be worth $179 million. Garnett will make $28 million this season, the final year of a six-year, $126 million deal.

The extension puts his pay at $305 million over 11 seasons, a $27.7 million average, or $337,804 a game. That is well above the $208.5 million over 10 seasons that Shaquille O'Neal is getting from the Los Angeles Lakers.

Garnett, who signed his previous contract before the current collective bargaining agreement that sets maximum salaries went into effect, is virtually guaranteed to be the highest-paid player for the rest of his career based on his age (27), the size of his contract and his productivity.

"I'm happy to know I will be in Minnesota the rest of my life," Garnett said.

Said Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, "The only thing Kevin was interested in, and I was interested in, and that we talked about, was the kind of team we were going to put together this coming year. He said that would be key."

The Timberwolves have been blessed with Garnett's skills for eight seasons and burdened by his huge contract for the past five.

That kept them from being able to do much on the free-agent market as the first-round losses in the playoffs piled up.

Well, K.G. is getting another big deal, but the Wolves have found a way to get him some more help, too.

Garnett is satisfied that the team's summer acquisitions have given him a better chance for his first postseason success.

"I'm really, really, really enthused," Garnett said at Target Center, where the Wolves begin the regular season Oct. 29 with the highest expectations in the franchise's 15 years.

That's because Latrell Sprewell, Sam Cassell and Michael Olowokandi, among others, are in place. A flurry of summer activity appears to have enhanced Minnesota's roster more than any other club in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.

"We think we've done some really neat things," said Taylor, whose bottom line will take a significant hit this year with a payroll or more than $70 million, one of the NBA's highest.

Andy Miller, Garnett's agent, and Timberwolves vice president Kevin McHale have been talking on and off for the past two years about an extension.

Taylor had a contract conversation with Garnett after Minnesota was eliminated by the Lakers in May, and the two agreed the team needed an upgrade.

The offseason moves were a big factor in Garnett's decision, but he also admitted he never thought about entering the 2003-04 season without his future secured.

"I never really felt like this was something that couldn't be done," said Garnett, wearing a black suit and a huge diamond stud in each ear that sparkled in the bright lights coming from a half-dozen television cameras.

Neither side would discuss terms, but the deal was believed to have a higher per season average than the $21 million his current contract provided.

Taylor was asked if this was another nine-figure deal.

"Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. I don't know," he said, laughing.

Minnesota's payroll is well above the league's expected luxury-tax threshold of $57 million, and Taylor will be charged for the amount his payroll exceeds that figure.

"In a day when sometimes people question your commitment ... that was a commitment," coach Flip Saunders said.

Taylor was asked what it would take for him to break even this year.

"A miracle," he said, drawing hearty laughter.

By league rules, Garnett was limited to a five-year extension. Taylor said the contract includes an option year — he wouldn't say which one — that allows another extension to be worked out.

That would ensure Garnett, 27, finishes his career in Minnesota.

"There is no way he wants out of this contract," Taylor said. "There is no way he wants to get traded."

If Garnett had not signed the extension, several teams would have undoubtedly shown interest.

"Part of that goes through your mind," Garnett said, "but at the end of the day, man, I'm a Timberwolf. I bleed blue and green. That's in my veins."

Garnett grew up in South Carolina and was drafted by the Wolves with the fifth overall pick in 1995 after playing one season at Farragut Academy in Chicago. He set career highs last season by averaging 23.0 points, 13.4 rebounds and 6.0 assists in 40.5 minutes.

It was his fourth straight 20-point, 10-rebound, five-assist season. Larry Bird is the only other player to do that.

"He makes my job coaching easier," said Saunders, who has coached every game of Garnett's NBA career.

c shack · 10-02-2003, 10:08 PM

nance pulled that number out of his ass. it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 mil, give or take 5 mil - as reported by several sources here in minneapolis.

EricaLubarsky · 10-02-2003, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Kilborn to run with the Timberwolves
Added: 1st October, 2003 9:35 AM ET

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Hastings native Craig Kilborn will suit up with the Minnesota Timberwolves next week. "The Late Late Show" host, who played for Montana State University, was officially invited to join the squad by coach Flip Saunders on Monday night's show, although the visit has been in the works for weeks.

"I am excited about having Craig join us at training camp," Saunders said. "I hope he is in shape and prepared for this. He better not expect any preferential treatment, either."

We have Gregoire and Chris Owens at training camp-two players that won't play. Why not invite celebs? We can just undermine the NBA even more. Why don't we just invite the top 24 most attractive people from people magazine to play in an allstar game. What about....

c shack · 10-02-2003, 10:55 PM

you have a point e.l., but kilborn does have a history w/the wolves organization. way back, before his espn days, he did broadcast work for the team.

EricaLubarsky · 10-02-2003, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: c shack
you have a point e.l., but kilborn does have a history w/the wolves organization. way back, before his espn days, he did broadcast work for the team.

Should he be invited as a dressed-out player? I wouldnt have any problem with it if he had been invited to come watch and hang out with the franchise, but somehow having him on the roster bugs me.