With the fated announcement of Kevin Garnett‘s retirement, more and more NBA stars are sharing anecdotes of their interactions with the “Big Ticket.”

That was the case with Boston Celtics rising star Isaiah Thomas, who told John Wallach from the Toucher and Rich show about the time KG called him a midget.

“With the Sacramento Kings, we were playing against Boston in Sacramento, first time I played the Celtics,” Thomas recalled. “I remember he set an illegal screen, you know his screens were very illegal and I yell ‘stop setting them illegal screens' and (Garnett) said ‘shut your little midget a** up.' So ever since then he's been calling me little midget but with other different words.”

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Despite that not-so-fond memory of getting around Garnett's illegal screens and getting called a midget in front of his teammates, Thomas remembers the All-Star forward for the legacy he left in the league.

“I've looked up to Kevin Garnett since I was even smaller,” said Thomas. “It sucks to see one of those types of guys leave, but I'm glad I was part of his legacy. I'm glad that I'm able to tell people I played against him because he's one of the most competitive people I've ever played against and that's someone that I've always wanted to be like. Be just like him.”