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MINNEAPOLIS - The Kid is all grown up, and he has an NBA MVP award to prove it.
Kevin Garnett got 120 of 123 first-place votes to beat two-time winner Tim Duncan for the honor Monday, three days after his Timberwolves won a playoff series for the first time.
Garnett's teammates attended a packed news conference at the Timberwolves' arena, and he praised them repeatedly.
"I wouldn't be nothing without those knuckleheads, believe me," Garnett said. "It's a team game, and I've always kept that perspective."
He has played at an MVP level for years, but this was a breakthrough season for the Wolves. They earned the top seeding in the Western Conference playoffs with a franchise-best 58-24 record, then ended a string of seven first-round exits by beating the Nuggets.
"This is the best situation I could ever think of, or dream of," Garnett, 27, said.
Playing everywhere from center to point guard, the 7-footer averaged 24.2 points, a league-leading 13.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists this season.
Garnett joined Larry Bird as the only players to average 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists for five consecutive seasons.
He received 1,219 points in voting by sports writers and broadcasters in each of the league's cities. San Antonio's Duncan was next with 716 points and Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal finished third with 523.
Meanwhile, Minnesota learned that center Ervin Johnson doesn't have a broken left wrist and will play in Game 1 of the conference semifinals today against the Kings.
MAVERICKS: The team was fined $25,000 by the NBA for showing a pregame video that ridiculed members of the Kings. Dallas showed the collection of vignettes before Game 3 of its playoff series April 24 in Dallas.
EXPANSION: The Charlotte Bobcats officially joined the NBA after majority owner Bob Johnson made the final payment on the team's $300-million expansion fee.
The Bobcats become the league's 30th team and will begin play next season.
"We are delighted to welcome the city of Charlotte back into the NBA," commissioner David Stern said.
Johnson, chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television, was awarded the expansion franchise in January 2003.
The Bobcats will select at least 14 players from the other 29 teams in an expansion draft June 22. Teams will be allowed to protect eight players, and no team may lose more than one.
DRAFT: Three high school players said they will enter the draft, although none said he would hire an agent. J.R. Smith of St. Benedict's in Newark, N.J., Al Jefferson of Prentiss (Miss.) High School and Shaun Livingston of Peoria (Ill.) Central High School brought to five the number of high school players who have said they would apply for the June 24 draft.