“He respected me after that” - Gordon Hayward on the moment he earned Kevin Garnett's respect

Gordon Hayward recently hung up his sneakers for good after playing 14 seasons in the NBA. The 2017 NBA All-Star sat down at the Dan LeBatard Show and shared his most interesting NBA stories.

One of those was an in-game confrontation with Kevin Garnett , one of the fiercest competitors the league has ever seen. When the smoke cleared, the former Butler Bulldog felt he earned his stripes after standing up to the Big Ticket.

“He was guarding me and I got a switch, and I like, tried to attack him and I couldn’t go anywhere,” Hayward began narrating the story. “So he kinda like starts clapping and you know, how he would get in his defensive stance.”

“I backed it up and went back at him and scored, and then I was kinda barking at him down the court. I think he respected me after that. Because before, you know, I’m just this slow, white kid coming from suburban Indianapolis,” he added.

Double-checking details

Moments like that make men out of boys, and that’s exactly what happened to Hayward when this encounter took place. The sequence happened in the second quarter of the game on November 14, 2012, Gordon’s third season in Utah. Meanwhile, this was Garnett’s last All-Star year before retiring three seasons later.

As narrated, the 21-year-old Hayward challenged KG in an isolation play on the right wing and stuck it to "the grill" of the 2008 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

Hayward and the Jazz ended up losing the game by five points, but standing up to the bully was bigger than a W in the standings. The Indiana native proved he belonged and wasn’t about to back down from any challenge, even if that comes in the form of a defensive monster like KG.

In time, Hayward wore the Celtics green like the Big Ticket after spending seven seasons in Salt Lake City. Injuries began piling up, and the fit was never seamless around Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. That was the beginning of the end for the skilled forward, as he never played more than 50 games a season after leaving Boston.

Related: Brian Windhorst on why it's impossible for NBA players to participate in 3X3 basketball: "FIBA doesn't want the United States to do good"

KG’s reputation

Garnett liked to get in the head of opponents. The 15-time NBA All-Star tried to beat foes mentally before and during the game. What’s more, KG constantly pushed the boundaries of trash-talking and made fair game out of everybody, including teammates.

That said, it’s no surprise that ultra-competitive players like the 2004 NBA MVP did these tricks to test players. For instance, Kobe Bryant famously told Matt Barnes , “Anyone crazy enough to f*** with me is crazy enough to play with me.”

The Big Ticket’s love for the game made him operate the way he did, and that type of intensity and passion is unfortunately seldom seen in the NBA today.

Related: Kendrick Perkins talks about KG's intensity: "He is the definition of locked in"