Kevin Garnett recently retired, and as a result, the NBA has one less major trash-talker on the floor. One player, however, figured out a great way to avoid Garnett’s trash talk.
Steven Adams was born in New Zealand, where pretty much everyone speaks English. Adams, 23, played part of his high school career in Massachusetts before playing at the University of Pittsburgh for a single season. In Massachusetts and in Pittsburgh, everyone speaks English.
But for some reason, that basic research or common knowledge didn’t appear in Garnett’s scouting report of Adams.
The two overlapped in the NBA for three seasons and faced off a handful of times. For most of those meetings, Garnett wasn’t able to trash talk Adams. The reason why?
Garnett thought Adams didn’t speak English.
Wait…what?
Steven Adams said Kevin Garnett stopped trash talking him because Adams convinced him he couldn't speak English. pic.twitter.com/ZIWmzAWkMx
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) September 25, 2016
“He’s got this presence about him. It’s intimidating. And he doesn’t talk to me at all. I played the English card one time. He said something, and I was just like, ‘Uh, no English. No English, man. Sorry.’ And so, he kind of left me alone, which is brilliant,” Adams said.
“He’s a real smart guy and he just understands everyone — he’s real equal amongst all his teammates. That’s what’s brilliant. People come to him and talk to him, but he could also say something back. It’s a two-way road. That’s what I’ve seen. Yeah, I look at a lot of things, mate, while I’m on the floor.”
Well that’s one way to beat Garnett. It’s too bad Adams didn’t reveal his secret before Garnett retired because that one make the next meeting between the two even more interesting.
After all, Garnett was known for being one of, if not the, best trash talkers in the league.
