The salary bit may be true... although it's hard to believe any contender passes on Garnett's salary (which is only $11M) while he's still an All-Star talent. That's significantly less than they would have been paying Harden.
As for please not Garnett, I'd hate to see him go too, but realistically I think he's the only guy who could still bring us back real assets. And OKC is the only contender I see with a spare lottery pick that would work. 2 more lottery picks (counting Lamb as the 1st) is better than watching Garnett fade into retirement w/o a chance to win it all.
I'd love to see Pierce somehow moved for that Charlotte pick from Chicago, but don't see how that gets done.
Rondo, Bradley, Lamb, Sullinger, Melo + 2 lottery picks (2013) is a lot of control over young cheap talent...