On this day in 1976, former Boston Celtics champion big man Kevin Garnett was born in Greenville, South Carolina.
Garnett did not play NCAA basketball, and was instead one of the most successful players to go directly from high school (and the first to do so in two decades) to the NBA after spending high school at Chicago’s Farragut Career Academy.
He entered the 1995 NBA Draft and would be drafted fifth overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he found some limited success. While he made the playoffs eight of his 12 seasons with the team, eventually Garnett became frustrated, and would be dealt to Boston in the summer of 2017.
He would win his first championship at the end of his first season with the Celtics, but injuries and bad luck kept KG from having more than one more NBA Finals appearance (2010) with Boston.
He would be dealt to the Brooklyn Nets along with Paul Pierce and guard Jason Terry in 2013, and then later signed with Minnesota to close out his Hall of Fame career.
He averaged 15.7 points, 11 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game with the Celtics.