Kevin Garnett (Photo. Gary Land)

*With all of the recent events surrounding the Carmelo Anthony/Kevin Garnett feud, and the trash talk involved that lit the Internet on fire, we figured it was a good time to repost our piece on the top 20 trash talkers of all time, originally published in October of 2012.*

David Stern and the rest of the suits might be charged with trying to take the fun out of the NBA, but trash talk will never die. It’s too engrained in the culture, too fundamental when it comes to egotistical athletes playing at the top of the game. Who grows up and doesn’t talk trash? I know I did, and it fired me up, forced me to back it up.

If you didn’t talk trash, chances are you were either Tim Duncan or you never got off the bench. Everyone has different uses for it, too. Some players need it to fire themselves up. Some are a little unstable mentally and emotionally. And others just can’t stop talking.

The NBA had some good talkers over the years, from the guys on the sidelines to the ones actually on the court to even the owners. We went through the tape, and picked out who we thought were the 20 best in NBA history (or at least as far back as current history goes…).