Should Garnett Buy the T-Wolves?

Posted Jan 25th 2007 10:50AM by Bethlehem Shoals
Filed under: Timberwolves, Western, NBA Rumors
We all started this season feeling sorry for KG, until he (and Mutoni) told us not to. The Wolves are somehow in contention for a playoff spot, and yet still dropped the ax on head coach Dwayne Casey. Good, confounding time as usual in Minnesota. The tension between Garnett's heroism and McHale's incompetence has defined it for over a decade, and something has got to give.

Martin Johnson of the New York Sun isn't the first person to catalog McHale's many missteps. As far as I know, though, he is the only writer to suggest that Garnett holds the key to his own salvation:

So if Garnett would like to stay in Minnesota, I have a modest suggestion for him that would cheer fans throughout the northern Midwest: Buy the franchise. Since Garnett arrived in the NBA at a young age, he has been richly rewarded and, according to the salary figures at basketball-reference.com, he's made $156 million playing pro hoops. He's earned several million more through endorsement deals (remember the Nike fun police campaign?). The Wolves are a small-market team, so their valuation is only about $303 million. With Garnett's wealth, which will grow by $50 million during the run of his current contract, he should be able to secure financing for the controlling stake in an offer of between $350 and $375 million to owner Glen Taylor.

No, it's not as insane as it sounds. And it's not so different from Mario Lemieux's purchase of his beloved Penguins. Granted, KG couldn't go at it alone, but Johnson's cooked up a perfectly reasonable coalition of other Minny athletes, including Dave Winfield, Chris Carter, and Kent Hrbek. Even if he didn't pull together this dream team of former area stars, Garnett's likely got enough charisma and capital to sell the public on it.

Then, of course, McHale would be out the door. As Johnson puts it, this "would prevent Garnett from becoming the tallest martyr in the sports world."