For years, the rafters of Target Center have felt incomplete. The Minnesota Timberwolves’ greatest player, Kevin Garnett, has watched his jersey hang in Boston but not in the city where he built his legend.
Now, that chapter is finally closing. According to multiple reports, the Timberwolves are working toward officially retiring Garnett’s jersey this season, ending a decade-long rift between the franchise and its most important figure.
Garnett’s relationship with the Timberwolves has always been layered. Drafted fifth overall in 1995, he became the face of the franchise, leading Minnesota to eight straight playoff appearances and the 2004 Western Conference Finals, still the deepest run in team history (tied with the current Wolves). That same year, he earned league MVP honors, cementing himself as one of the most dominant two-way forces of his generation.
But after his second stint in Minnesota ended in 2016, Garnett’s ties to the organization soured. A promised front-office role following his retirement never materialized after the passing of Flip Saunders, and Garnett’s feud with then-owner Glen Taylor grew bitter. He publicly vowed that his jersey would not be retired under Taylor’s watch, calling the situation “not genuine.”
That stalemate shifted when Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore completed their takeover of the franchise earlier this year. The new ownership group has made it a priority to reconnect with the team’s history and fan base. Retiring Garnett’s jersey is not just a symbolic gesture, it’s a healing act, a way to bridge the past with the present.
The timing is fitting. Minnesota is coming off back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances, led by Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, and a new generation of stars. Bringing Garnett back into the fold honors the foundation he laid while energizing a fan base that still reveres him as “The Big Ticket.”
Adding to the nostalgia, the Timberwolves are also bringing back their classic black “tree-trim” uniforms, the very jerseys Garnett wore during his prime. The sight of No. 21 raised to the rafters alongside those uniforms will be a full-circle moment for fans who lived through the Grit-and-Grind years of the late ’90s and early 2000s.
For Garnett, whose intensity, loyalty, and ferocity defined an era, this honor is overdue. He remains the franchise leader in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, a statistical monument to his all-encompassing impact.
When the banner finally rises, it won’t just be about a number. It will be about reconciliation, respect, and recognition. It will be about Minnesota finally saying thank you to the player who gave the franchise its identity.
And for the fans, it will be the moment they’ve been waiting on for 25 years: Kevin Garnett’s No. 21, forever in the rafters where it belongs.
