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Kevin Garnett destroyed Randy Moss' dream of a Latrell Sprewell-esque NBA career

Ben Rohrbach
Senior NBA writer
Kevin Garnett and Randy Moss crossed paths in Minnesota, but that wasn't their first meeting.
Kevin Garnett and Randy Moss crossed paths as pros in Minnesota, but they first met as preps in Indianapolis.

As a senior at Belle (W.Va.) DuPont High, Randy Moss wasn’t just West Virginia’s top football player. He was the state’s best at basketball, too, capturing Gatorade Player of the Year honors in both sports.

So, not only did Moss receive football scholarship offers from the likes of Notre Dame and Florida State, but he also earned an invitation to the prestigious Nike All-American Camp in 1994, and that’s where he said he knew his basketball career ended — thanks in part to Kevin Garnett.

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On Garnett’s Area 21 segment for “Inside the NBA,” Moss discussed his West Virginia glory days, which featured Jason “White Chocolate” Williams as his high school point guard. Williams earned the Nike All-American invite in 1993, and Moss got his a year later, joining top prep basketball talent like KG, Ron Mercer and Schea Cotton in Indianapolis. And that’s where the hoop dream ended for Moss:

“A lot of the athletes that were there were basketball all-year-round gym rats,” Moss told Garnett from his leather chair. “When I got there, I was a season athlete, so seeing you guys — top-five guys, top-10 guys in the country — so in a roundabout way I kind of got depressed a little bit, just for the fact that I knew I couldn’t compete with you guys.”

More specifically:

“You were out there shooting,” Moss continued to tell Garnett. “We were on a rain delay, because there was a bad storm coming through, so they stopped all the ball-playing and brought everybody in. You’re there playing on the court, so I just come out there and shoot around with you, and for some apparent reason I just said, ‘Check ball.’ I know you’re not going to remember this, but I do. This is really what discouraged me. You and Schea Cotton helped me go to football.

“I stutter, then try to go to the hole real quick, laid that thing high off the glass, where that white box is. You went up there and cleaned my ball. You went up there and cleaned it. When you went up there and cleaned it, I looked up there and said, ‘Man, he can jump that high?’ … So shoutout to you and Schea Cotton, man, because if y’all really wouldn’t have discouraged me to play football, then where would I be at today?”

There you have it. In a game of 1-on-1, Garnett wiped the glass clean of a layup, and that was enough to convince Moss basketball wasn’t for him. Just imagine if everyone KG blocked was so discouraged.

If Moss had to do it all over again, the 39-year-old future Pro Football Hall of Famer wouldn’t change a thing. Never lacking confidence, he did say he could average 10 points and five rebounds right now in the NBA. Back in the day, though, Moss believes his scoring average would have climbed twice as high:

“You’re talking about in my prime?” said Moss. “Me, personally, I think I could’ve been in the 20s, and that’s being real serious.”

His explanation for why he could’ve been a top-20 scorer in the NBA was pure Moss: “I love the game. I love basketball.” If those were the requirements, then a lot of people would be in the league. Then again, not all of us are nicknamed “Freak” for our exceptional athleticism, so maybe he’s got a point.

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Asked whose game best resembled his, Moss told the TNT crew, “I would say Latrell Sprewell.” Perfect.

If only those 2003-04 Timberwolves with Garnett and Sprewell could’ve borrowed Moss from the Vikings, things would’ve been a lot different in Minnesota. Or at least we imagine Moss thinks so.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!