Kevin Garnett Demanded Reggie Evans Stay With Brooklyn Nets

Kevin Garnett demanded that the Nets keep Reggie EvansWhen Kevin Garnett was traded to the Brooklyn Nets from the Boston Celtics, part of the arrangement was for him to go to Brooklyn with teammates Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. What has recently become public knowledge is: Garnett also demanded that Reggie Evans remain on the Brooklyn roster so that they would play together.

“I won’t go into specific details of what I was wanting and dislikes and everything else when it came to building the business of basketball,” Garnett said before the Nets beat the 76ers, 127-97, in Monday night’s preseason game at Wachovia Center. “But I will say this: One of the key things for me was not only Paul (Pierce) and ‘Jet’ (Jason Terry) coming here with me to make it comfortable, but Reggie Evans had to be on the roster. That was a huge key for me coming here.”

Garnett really respects Evans’ work ethics on the court and according to Evans the two players really hit it off.

“Me and KG, we’re just clicking,” Evans said. “We are just taking advantage of this moment, and taking advantage of it is winning a championship. Sometimes you’ve got to do the little stuff, always talking to each other, communicating with each other and stuff like that. Everything is a process and we are slowly getting to know each other on the court and off the court. Dapping each other up, all that stuff is coming natural. Ain’t nothing fake about it. It’s all just natural, which is good.”

Garnett and Evans formed a bond that will benefit both players, especially Evans who’s getting the opportunity to get mentored by a Championship player.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top