Joakim Noah Explains His Side of the Kevin Garnett Beef

We start a brand new week of Pardon My Take with an awesome interview and a guest who loves to get lit. 2x NBA All-Star and 2x National Champion Joakim Noah joined Mr. Cat and Mr. Commenter today to talk Bulls, Gators, his times in New York, his opinion on Cleveland, and more. Another portion of the trio's chat included attempting to figure out the story behind the beef between Noah and Kevin Garnett, who is also a PMT recurring guest. Mr. Cat played a clip from a December interview with Garnett regarding he and Noah's interaction on the court, and then we get into Noah explaining his side of the story:

(Flashback to KG interview)

Mr. Cat: The story with Joakim Noah was like, "you were my idol growing up" and Kevin just turned to him and said "Fuck you Noah."

Kevin Garnett: He asked me the move I just gave him... Figure it out! Get out of here!

(Back to Noah interview)

Mr. Cat: Joakim is ready to run through a brick wall. He's getting mad. Alright so tell us your side of that story.

Joakim Noah: I don't think he remembers, because I think the story meant a lot more to me than it did to him. So, I remember because I had KG posters on my wall, I had a fucking KG jersey growing up. This is the story: The first time I play KG, I'm hype as hell. We're playing the Celtics, I'm on the Bulls, and I think they're up like 30 points and I'm in the game. It's the last seconds, nobody gives a shit. So we are at the free throw line and he used to work out [with the same guy] I was working out with for pre-draft. So I was always hoping KG would walk in the gym and I would be able to work out with him. And I remember asking him a question about you like, you know, you going to work out with Joe? I just want to say something to my idol. And he just like looked over and he was like, who the fuck are you talking to? And then when he said that, I was like, ahhh shit. And then like, I kind of fell back knowing that I shouldn't I shouldn't have said that, like, not not during the game. 

Mr. Cat: Right.

Joakim Noah: You know, and then I didn't say anything. And then when I didn't say anything, I guess he thought I was a fucking pussy or something because he was like he kept like getting like louder and louder. And then from that from that moment on, I swear to God, I was like, yo, I'm going at him. Every single time we play, we are going at it. 

Mr. Commenter: That's probably good for you, though.

Joakim Noah: It changed my career. That moment changed my career because from that that moment on, I learned that there is no love in battle. And, you know, this is competition. Like at the end of the day, I'm trying to rip your fucking head off. You're trying to rip my head off. Let's go. Like I'm trying to win just as bad as you're trying to win. I'm not trying to make no friends. And you know that moment right there changed everything. So like I hear people talking about that moment that they weren't even there. They don't even know what happened. They're talking about it, writing that shit in books, like fuck out of here. I remember. That was a real important for me. And that's what happened.

It must be the thrill of all thrills to grow up idolizing someone on the court and then suddenly you're on the same hardwood as them and competing for buckets and boards. That's exactly what happened here for Joakim Noah with Kevin Garnett, but unfortunately for Noah, it completely backfired (at least in the moment). The positive out of this, like he mentioned, is that competition means competition, and the former Gator learned that the hard way. But it helped him in the long run. This kind of reminds me of "Like Mike," when Calvin Cambridge goes up to his idol, Allen Iverson, and asks for his autograph during pregame warmups. Just an all-time cinematic sports movie moment.