Alex Rodriguez 'Would Love' Kevin Garnett, Timberwolves to Reunite amid Estrangement

Kevin Garnett is generally regarded as the best player in Minnesota Timberwolves history, something the franchise's new ownership group would like to remind people of in a way that wasn't possible when Glen Taylor was steering the ship.

Speaking to reporters from NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, Alex Rodriguez said the franchise "would love" to mend fences with Garnett amid his long estrangement from the Timberwolves.

"We would love to course correct that, because he's so important to our franchise, to that community, to the history of Timberwolves," Rodriguez said of Garnett.

The rift between Garnett and Taylor stems from what the Hall of Famer said were "broken" promises about a role with the organization, possibly including a minority ownership stake, that wound up not coming together after former Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders died in February 2015.

Minnesota's organizational hierarchy changed in April 2016 when Tom Thibodeau was hired as head coach and Scott Layden was brought on as general manager.

"I told Thibs I want to work with him, but obviously me and Glen don’t see eye-to-eye on a lot of things and that’s how it’s going to be," Garnett told Jon Krawczynski for the Associated Press.

When Taylor announced in 2020 that he would entertain offers for the Timberwolves, Garnett reportedly went to work putting together a group to potentially purchase the franchise.

Rodriguez and Lore officially took over as majority owners of the Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx on June 24 when the $1.5 billion sale was approved by NBA governors after a prolonged transfer in which Taylor attempted to back out of the deal.

Garnett was drafted by Minnesota out of high school with the No. 5 pick in the iconic 1996 NBA draft. He spent his first 12 seasons with the Timberwolves before being traded to the Boston Celtics in July 2007.

After eight seasons between the Celtics and Brooklyn Nets, Garnett returned to Minnesota via trade in February 2015. He officially retired in September 2016 after receiving a contract buyout from the Timberwolves.

Garnett is the franchise's all-time leader in games played (970), points (19,201), rebounds (10,718), assists (4,216) and steals (1,315). They made the playoffs in each of his first eight seasons, three more than in their other 29 seasons of existence combined.