Kevin Garnett: I walk into the locker room at halftime— I’m used to being in there like: “What are we doing on pick and roll?” “Let’s talk about the game.” “Pass the Gatorade.” “Get that leg wrapped.” Now? I walk in and—nobody’s in the locker room. I go to the training room—everyone’s chilling, leg up, on the phone. “Hey babe, hey girl”—this is halftime. So I’m like: “Aight. I’m OG—let me get everybody back in the locker room for a second.” I call everyone in, like: “Yo, what is this?” And Ricky Rubio goes: “Yeah man, nobody wants to talk. Everyone’s on their phones. We need to figure out the pick and roll.” Rubio had an old-school spirit. That was the first time I saw this “new era” of locker room behavior. So I went to Rubio, Zach LaVine, and Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins wasn’t vocal, but he was a little leader. I pulled them aside: “Listen, I respect y’all. You’re the future. But I’m the OG—and I gotta bring some traditional stuff in here.” I told them: “Y’all can have your phones, but we’re gonna talk for five minutes about the game before the coaches come in.” And they respected that. -via YouTube / April 25, 2025
