Craig Sager is most fondly remembered for his back-and-forth routine with Gregg Popovich, in which Sager would play the earnest sideline reporter and Popovich a sort of caricature of the surly coach who has no time for the manufactured pleasantries of a scheduled television interview. But for my money, Sager’s best foil was Kevin Garnett, who, over the years, would almost always end an interview with Sager by going in on whatever Willy Wonka-esque suit he happened to be wearing that night.
The most memorable of these moments was probably when KG embarked on a minute-long bit imploring Sager to burn a pink plaid suit he mad matched with a candy cane-striped shirt:
After hitting a game-winning shot against the Sixers, KG looked at a bizarre fuchsia tie hanging from Sager’s neck and said, “I see you still wearing BS on TV”:
One night in 2009, after a victory over the Magic, Garnett encountered a Sager who was wearing a golden suit that had the distinct color of... a substance KG didn’t want to say live on air:
One time KG did give Sager a little fashion advice. In the wake of a win over the Knicks, Garnett found Sager wearing olive pants. “Hey look, straight up, you can’t just grab something from the 1970s and try to bring it back,” KG said. “Retro is a look, okay.” When Sager remarked that he was trying to bring the 1970s back to glory just like Garnett had done the Celtics, KG pointed at himself and said, “But as you see, it’s working”—then he pointed at Sager—“and that is not.”
This went on for at least a half a decade. During the 2013 All-Star Game, KG told a glimmering Sager that he looked like a Christmas ornament:
At least once, Sager did try and give it back to Garnett. During a practice for that 2013 All-Star game, Sager was interviewing Carmelo Anthony while wearing a head-to-toe turquoise suit. After Sager asked Anthony about Garnett, Melo called over KG, who immediately started expressing his disgust for Sager’s outfit, which led to Sager giving Garnett shit for tucking his warm-up pants into his socks:
And on at least one occasion, KG complimented Sager on one of this outfits. One night after beating the Magic, an amped-up Garnett talked to Sager, who was wearing a relatively muted lavender ensemble. During the interview, Garnett described the game as a “bar fight” and shouted out Ray Allen, whose wife had just given birth. Then he looked at Sager and admitted, “You look good tonight, dawg.”