In his 1st stint with the Timberwolves, Kevin Garnett earned the Kia NBA MVP Award in May of 2004.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have had a bevy of All-Stars play for the franchise, but only Kevin Garnett has achieved the league’s Most Valuable Player honors while playing for the Timberwolves. Let’s dig into his MVP campaign and the stats that helped him win the award.
Kevin Garnett – 2004 Kia NBA MVP
The Timberwolves selected Garnett with the fifth pick in the 1995 Draft. He made his first All-Star team in 1996-97, averaging 17.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.1 blocks per game. That began a streak of five straight seasons in which Garnett averaged at least 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per game, which made him a regular in the voting for the Defensive Player of the Year.
In 1998-99, Garnett finished 10th in MVP voting and seventh for the Defensive Player of the Year. The following season, he came in second in MVP voting when he averaged 22.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.6 blocks per game.
Garnett also finished second in MVP voting in 2002-03 when he averaged 23.0 points, 13.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks. He came in third in Defensive Player of the Year voting while being named first team All-NBA for the second time in his career that season.
For the first time in his career, Garnett led the league by averaging 13.9 rebounds per game in 2003-04. He also averaged 24.2 points per game, which ended up being the highest mark of his career. Additional averages of 5.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.2 blocks helped Garnett finally win his first regular season MVP award.
Garnett eventually led the league in rebounds per game for four straight seasons. He also averaged at least 21.8 points in all four of those seasons. He didn’t win another MVP award, though, finishing as high as ninth in the voting in 2006-07. Following the 2006-07 season, Garnett was traded to the Celtics. He did not win an MVP with them, but he did win his only career Defensive Player of the Year award in 2007-08 with the Celtics.
After stints with the Celtics and Nets, Garnett returned to the Timberwolves to finish his career. Over 970 regular season games with the franchise, he averaged 19.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.6 blocks. In addition to his MVP award, he made 10 All-Star teams with the franchise and was named first team All-NBA three times.
