"I'm just saying there was probably more to it that had to do with Wally that we have chosen not to talk about," Taylor said. ". . . I am just going to say that no matter what I say, people are going to deny it. But I would say some things came to a head that forced us to get into something we didn't necessarily want to do. I think it would have been pretty dangerous for Kevin McHale not to do the trade."

But few around the Wolves on a regular basis failed to see the uneasy alliance, at best, between Szczerbiak and Kevin Garnett. It dated probably as far back as 1999, when Szczerbiak, just out of college, was added to the Team USA qualifying team on which Garnett played. Several members of that squad didn't like playing with ultra-confident Szczerbiak and reportedly razzed Garnett about his team's new lottery pick.

A locker-room skirmish, with Garnett punching Szczerbiak an hour after a perceived slight on the practice court flushed the tension into the open. An ESPN magazine piece cited more Szczerbiak critics within the Wolves' ranks. After which, the matter was repeatedly downplayed and denied. Season after season after season.

As last season's 12-6 record started to unravel, Szczerbiak grew less willing to defer to Garnett. He was ready to meet any friction head-on, a line in the sand that would have polarized the locker room and shredded any pretense of chemistry. The trade did enough damage in those areas, but the team's two best players, throwing down? Intolerable.