It seems very unlikely that Kevin Garnett will still be a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves before tomorrow's draft kicks off. What team he will land with still remains up in the air however. The latest and hottest rumor is that KG will end up playing alongside Steve Nash in Phoenix. To make it happen Phoenix will have to surrender either Amare Stoudemire or Shawn Marion, though.
The first scenario has Garnett heading to Arizona, Marion going to Boston and a package including the fifth pick landing in Minnesota. Two potential red flags with this one are Marion's distaste for playing in Boston and Boston's distaste for dealing Al Jefferson without getting Garnett in return. Marion can opt out of his contract after next season so Boston wouldn't be guaranteed more than one season with the Matrix. If they gave up Jefferson in such a deal Danny Ainge would be even less popular in New England than George Steinbrenner.
The other scenario is less popular with the Suns. They'd deal Stoudemire to Atlanta and Minnesota would get the third and elventh picks in the draft from the Hawks and cap-friendly contracts from both teams. The Suns are also talking to Charlotte about a deal for the Bobcats eighth overall selection which could land them a player to replace Marion but there's no way to replicate Stoudemire's All-NBA production at the pivot via the draft. With two first rounders and players like Marion and Stoudemire, the Suns offer both the best chance for Garnett to contend for a title and have the most pieces to use in making a deal.
Any talk of Garnett to the Lakers appears to be dead. Kevin McHale is said to be uninterested in a package of Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom and the 19th pick for Garnett and attempts to set up a three or four team deal have fallen apart because of one snag or another. That won't make Kobe happy but that's what the Lakers get for passing on Jason Kidd last season. There's rumors tying Bynum to a deal for Jermaine O'Neal or for a top-1o pick in the draft as well as a deal involving Lamar Odom and Zach Randolph. The latter would allow them to keep Bynum and add a helpful piece in Randolph. None of the rest makes much sense for Los Angeles since they'll get incrementally better when they need to make a bold step in one direction or another.
There doesn't appear to be much to any discussion of Garnett ending up in Dallas either. That means that it's going to come down to who blinks first between Ainge, McHale and new Suns GM Steve Kerr. Minnesota has to get the Garnett deal done because they won't be able to build a winning team around him so they need to either persuade Kerr to deal Stoudemire or Ainge to deal Jefferson and offer a big extension to Marion. Kerr seems like the key spot. It's a risky deal for a new guy on the job but their window is shutting and bringing in Garnett is the best chance they have to compete for a title. If Kerr can swing both deals and end up with KG and Al Thornton or Joakim Noah from the draft they'll be in a better position to attack the Spurs than they were this year, suspended players or not.
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