One of television’s most probing interviewers projects an on-set calm that belies his past as one of basketball’s most intimidating defenders. As a player, surefire future Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett guarded his privacy as fiercely as an opponent, yet his introspection and thoughtful perspective always shone through when he did speak.
Since joining the ranks of the media early in the 2016-17 season, Garnett’s social media-driven Area 21 studio show for Turner is trying to redefine the medium, ditching suits for casual wear and a slick desk for lounge chairs and sofas.
When Garnett invited a slew of his former Boston Celtics teammates on set last year to reminisce about their NBA championship, one of the big three stars, Ray Allen, was notably absent, stemming from a feud over his departure to the rival Miami Heat in free agency. In between jokes about Rajon Rondo being “the only one alive” (i.e. still an active player) and their coach, Doc Rivers, joking about Glen “Big Baby” Davis’ multiple trips through the training camp buffet line, Garnett addressed Allen’s omission head-on.
“Everybody’s asking us, ‘Where’s Ray?’” Garnett said on the show. “People don’t understand that this is real life for us. The situation with Ray is very sensitive.”
That precipitated a candid conversation from the five players on set, explaining why they felt (primarily that Allen left without even talking to them), and more honest and raw than one typically finds in studio-centric sports programming. In a different episode, Garnett asks old friend Randy Moss — the recently elected Hall of Fame wide receiver starred for the Minnesota Vikings when Garnett led the crosstown Timberwolves — whether the new research about concussions would have changed Moss’ mind about pursuing football.
“I like to think that the questions are real,” Garnett told SportTechie. “And I like to think that the questions that I’m thinking, you’re thinking of them too, you just don’t have the [guts] to ask them.
“A lot of issues, no one wants to sit and talk about. No one wants to hear the real parts of it. But I think you have to push those onuses, you have to push those conversations to be able to say, ‘Hey, can we talk about this?’ Doesn’t have to be negative, doesn’t have to be argumentative, but we can debate, we can go back and forth. You can have an opinion like I can have an opinion, and we can share those opinions.”
The weekly show airs every Tuesday — as well as special segments planned throughout the upcoming All-Star weekend, with plans to repeat a Facebook Live with Charles Barkley during the Slam Dunk Contest — with segments of the program interceding TNT’s “Inside the NBA” coverage but much of it earmarked for social media distribution. Craig Barry, the chief content officer for Turner Sports, said he has been “super impressed” with Garnett and has been pleased with the show’s engagement and growth.
“I don’t even know if I would even categorize him as a host, to be honest with you, because it’s not really in the sense of a linear product,” Barry said, adding: “He’s an influencer. He’s a conversationalist, kind of this raw, unfiltered entity who shares his experience with the fans the and community.”
Just because there’s an authenticity to the show with interspersed bouts of real talk, don’t mistake the show for a basketball-themed Dr. Phil. For starters, there’s a recurring Heat Check gimmick in which guests (like Snoop Dogg) participate in a shooting contest. During the Allen conversation, the chyron aired each player’s nickname — Big Baby, Perk, The Truth, KG, Rondo — and there’s an ever-present Cuss Button for Garnett, who was famous profane on the court. (He’s forgotten to bleep himself on air more than once.)
The show’s charm is the jocular familiarity Garnett either already has or develops with guests. At other times, Garnett asks other questions that viewers are no doubt thinking, even if they hail from the other extreme of the spectrum.
In one episode, Garnett turned to the rapper Ludacris and asked, “How would you use the afro on offense and defense to your advantage?”After a clip of regular guest and former All-Star Rasheed Wallace holding back Rivers during a heated sideline outburst was shown, Garnett discussed the technique of restraint, jokingly asking, “How do you contain a coach at that level?”
"I can't repeat what he said…we ain't got the cuss button.” -Sheed & KG break down Doc Rivers' sideline outburst
https://t.co/svjLdxUr2K
— KG's Area 21 (@KGArea21) December 2, 2016
Garnett pivots on the show as well as he did in the post. Before Garnett asked Moss about brain injuries, Moss shared a story from when he was a star high school basketball player at the same elite camp as Garnett. Moss hilariously detailed driving to the hoop in a one-on-one game only to have Garnett and clean the ball off the glass, rejecting what Moss thought was a sure basket. Moss said that camp helped steer him toward football, telling Garnett (and referring to another phenom who was there), “You and Schea Cotton helped me go to football.”
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Former teammate Paul Pierce once told Slam magazine that Garnett was famous for regaling younger players with hours of story time, likening the experience to “sitting around a campfire.” Regarding the Area 21 show, Pierce said, “This is really who Kevin is, who you’re seeing now. I just never thought he’d put it on TV.”
Garnett never thought he would either. He presumed he would take a year off to travel and pursue some business ventures, a plan of which he now says, “I don’t know what the hell I was thinking,” noting how “high energy” and “very curious” he is to always do more.
A few television opportunities presented themselves, but Garnett didn’t like the “scripted” feel of most sports talk and initially turned Turner down, before they packaged the idea of a very different program better resembling his living room rather than a studio set. A month after retirement, Garnett had another job.
“I never was comfortable with what TV presented or how it presented some shows, how it presented the individual,” he said. “I love Turner for the fact that they really let you yourself, and the really want you to be your authentic self.”
Barry said the genesis of the idea originated in a Turner control room equipped with multiple televisions where executives would concurrently watch games, the studio show and social media. They had a realization of how important the parallel social conversation had become apart from the storylines of the games. The “planets kind of aligned” that Garnett became available when he did for the launch, with Barry noting the former player’s willingness to try new things. There are theme nights ranging from reunions of old Celtics and Timberwolves teammates to a Ladies Night of WNBA players and a legends night with Oscar Robertson, Julius Erving, George Gervin, Bernard King and Lisa Leslie.
“Nowadays, just viewing and watching isn’t enough,” Barry said. “There has to be this experience that goes on, not just like a companion app, but people when they consume content are having some kind of sensory or visceral reaction to that content and are engaging with it.”
Garnett has evolved rapidly as an on-air personality, saying he always does homework on his guests and taking cues from those he enjoys watching, calling Ernie Johnson and the late Craig Sager “the pinnacles of broadcasting” while also praising Kevin Harlan, Jalen Rose (“he goes where most don’t”) and Jemele Hill (“I love her voice”).
“You never know what you’ll take from somebody’s story or somebody’s journey,” Garnett said. “I always like to be a student and learn something from each guest.”
Just as basketball fans are learning something more about the Big Ticket each week.