While plenty of players have made the leap directly from high school to the NBA in the seven-decade history of the league, when Boston Celtics Hall of Fame big man Kevin Garnett decided to do so, it was seen as a potentially risky proposition given how few recent high-level success stories there had been at the time.
Amid a horde of think pieces predicting his demise as a star prospect, The Big Ticket bucked the trend and went directly from Chicago’s Farragut Academy to the NBA draft. While looking back events seem almost preordained, the expectations of his pending failure that proliferated in that moment were not lost on a young Garnett.
On a recent episode of the Players Tribune “Knuckleheads” podcast, Garnett broke down why he made the decision to go directly to the NBA despite all the hand-wringing over his choice.
Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what he had to say about a pivotal moment in his career.
Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi
YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ
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