The NBA 2014 Season Predictions are on, and one of the teams that is lodged in the Eastern Conference Playoff bubble is the Brooklyn Nets. With Paul Pierce gone and Brook Lopez still injured, they might need to rely on Kevin Garnett even more.

Garnett is about to join an elite group of players with a very special distinction, as Newsday reports:

"(Garnett is) set to join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Robert Parish and Kevin Willis as the lone players with at least 20 seasons in the league."

"The Big Ticket" was rumored to retire, although he still stands to take $ 12 million in the last year of his contract. But it does not mean that he's walking into the sunset at the end of 2014-15. He might stick around beyond this season as he will take a bigger role. New head coach Lionel Hollins appreciates his veteran big man:

"We just told him that there will be times when I take him out early, there will be times when I take him out a little bit later in the quarter, there will be times when I take him out when the game is at hand in the end, where I don't need him. I just play it by ear. I don't get into the planning. I haven't sat in my office and said, 'OK, I've got to chart out minutes and times that KG will be on the court or not be on the court.' And he'll tell me sometimes. It works both ways."

KG has a lot of motivation to stay beyond this season, but he will not be forced against his will. The Big Ticket can call the shots:

"It's my body, so I have a lot to say about my body. Understand that. I'm not a rookie. No one is going to tell me anything that I'm going to do with this body here. Last year, Jason was just kind of taking a [page] from himself and coming from a similar situation. We were on the same page with that. A lot of people didn't like it, but they weren't the ones hurting and aching."

The Brooklyn Nets were touted to be title contenders last season but projections have them not making the playoffs. They definitely want to prove the critics wrong.