With Glen Taylor gone, Kevin Garnett's jersey retirement can finally happen

Taylor's presence is what has kept Garnett away from Minnesota all these years.

February 20, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NBA great Kevin Garnett is honored for being selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team during halftime in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The saga is finally over. Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez announced on Monday that they've won their arbitration dispute with Glen Taylor over ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. Once they go through the rest of the approval process, including a vote from the NBA's board of governors, they'll be the owners of the franchises.

“We are extremely pleased with today’s decision," Lore and Rodriguez said in a statement. "We look forward to working with the NBA to complete the approval process and close this transaction so that we can turn our attention to winning championships in Minnesota for our incredible fans and the Twin Cities community."

It's exciting news that will usher in a new era for the Timberwolves and Lynx. One person who has to be particularly thrilled is Kevin Garnett, the greatest player to ever put on a Wolves uniform.

Garnett has had a long-running, highly-publicized beef with Taylor. There are many layers to it, but it largely stems from Garnett having an agreement to join the Wolves' organization after his retirement from playing — an agreement that fell apart after Flip Saunders passed away. KG has said he doesn't want anything to do with Taylor, famously saying "I don't do business with snakes."

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It's the reason why Garnett has stayed away from the organization he called home as a player from 1995-2007 and again at the end of his career in 2015-16. He never attends games, not even during last year's deep playoff run. Most notably, he's never had his No. 21 jersey retired at Target Center, despite being far and away the greatest player in franchise history. Garnett's No. 5 was retired by the Boston Celtics in 2022, adding salt to the wound for Wolves fans. He spent parts of 14 seasons with Minnesota and just six with Boston, although he did win a championship there.

Now that Taylor is out of the picture, the one obstacle to a Garnett jersey retirement ceremony has been removed. It can finally happen. There's no reason to believe Garnett has anything against Lore or Rodriguez, or that he'll have any further reason to stay away from the franchise. In fact, it's almost a certainty that Lore and Rodriguez will make it a priority to re-connect KG with the organization.

Depending on the timeline of this process being finalized, a Garnett jersey retirement ceremony could theoretically happen as soon as later this season, though a date during the 2025-26 season might be more realistic. It's long overdue.