Kevin Garnett might be done for the 2015-16 season

Let’s be honest – most of us thought Kevin Garnett was going to call it a career once he was dealt back to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2015. This is a man that was drafted into the NBA in 1995, and a short stint working with his original team down the lean days of 2014-15 seemed like the perfect way to go out.

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Instead, the future Hall of Famer signed a two year contract extension with the club, one that will pay him $16 million nearly up to his 41st birthday. The Wolves (with head coach and former teammate Sam Mitchell running the show) have started KG in each of the 38 contests he’s been available to play this year, and the legend has responded with marks of 3.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in just 14 minutes a contest.

This particular 2015-16 run, however, might be coming to an end. Garnett hasn’t played for five weeks due to right knee soreness, and Mitchell confirmed on Wednesday that it might be possible that we’ve seen the last of KG for the season.

From a discussion on SiriusXM’s NBA channel, as transcribed by The Score:

“It’s a day to day, week to week thing,” Mitchell said on SiriusXM NBA Radio of Garnett’s bothersome right knee. “I’m not even going to promise that you’re going to see him.”

Garnett is not as well-funded as Kobe Bryant – currently working on his farewell retirement tour while boasting the largest contract in the NBA – and it’s also fair to say he’s not as universally beloved. That’s not a shot at Garnett, it’s just that KG’s contributions to the game were a bit more hard to appreciate than Bryant’s, even if Garnett (and here come the emails) was the better overall player.

As such, fans aren’t flocking to Timberwolves games to take in their last shot at seeing KG in person. This is in part addled by the fact that Garnett is signed through 2017, and that he hasn’t announced any retirement plans yet. For all we know, the man might want a contract extension in place some 16 months from now.

Part of that, and let’s be frank, has a lot to do with Garnett’s reputation as the guy that always shows up late to the fight, asking to be held back as if he was ever going to throw a punch in the first place. A Deadspin commenter reminded us of as much upon viewing KG’s latest round of NSFW after-the-outcome trash talking.

If the Timberwolves do plan to honor the last year of Garnett’s deal, as they work their way into the squad’s 17th consecutive (yikes) playoff-less season, he’ll have plenty of time to get that knee in order prior to the start of 2016-17. We can’t imagine him going out as warm and winsome as Kobe Bean Bryant has attempted to, thus far. That just ain’t in him.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops