GIF: Kevin Garnett Tries To Bite Joakim Noah, Says He Was “Messing Around”

We always assumed that we found Kevin Garnett infallible. Well, apparently there are limits to even our long-held and unceasing fandom of the future Hall-of-Famer. In an embarrassing display of sportsmanship, watch Garnett try to bite Joakim Noah’s hand during the Brooklyn Nets’ loss to the Chicago Bulls on Sunday.

Yikes.

Garnett was also assessed a technical for throwing an errant elbow at his younger rival:

After the game, KG claimed he was simply “messing around” with his bite attempt. Noah seemed just as astonished as we are.

Via Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago:

“I know how to bite somebody,” Garnett told reporters in the Nets’ locker room. “Obviously I was messing around in that moment. If I wanted to bite him, I’d have just … shout out to Mike Tyson.”

“He tried to bite me, man,” Noah said through laughter in the Bulls’ locker room. “That’s crazy, man. It’s unbelievable. Kevin Garnett tried to bite me, man. It’s unbelievable. I don’t even know what to say.”

We believe that Garnett really was acting in jest, but that doesn’t make this any more defensible. Noah likely knew that Garnett wouldn’t actually bite him given their long-held on-court rivalry, so he probably played-on unfazed from that point. What if KG tried this on a player less comfortable with his maniacal antics, though? Not only would Garnett gain a competitive advantage, but the victim of his ridiculous act could very well be afraid. We would be.

There’s a fine line between intimidation and scare tactic, and Garnett easily crosses it here – whether he intended to make contact with Noah or not. He should be reprimanded by the league office with a hefty fine, and perhaps even a one-game suspension. This type of supposedly playful stuff – it’s on a level beyond J.R. Smith untying laces, but somewhat similar – has no place in the NBA.

(GIF via @_MarcusD_)

What do you think?

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