Minneapolis ? Minnesota Timberwolves All-Star Kevin Garnett is joining the long list of professional athletes who are donating to victims of Hurricane Katrina – in a big, big way.

Garnett is donating $1.2 million to build homes throughout the Gulf Coast region.

“I knew I wanted to do something,” Garnett said after practice Friday. “But I didn’t know in detail what I wanted to do.”

Garnett is teaming with Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network charity foundation on the project. Garnett said he chose Winfrey’s foundation because 100 percent of his donation would go toward the victims.

“The fact that she pays the overhead of her employees and the foundation itself and just goes out and makes dreams come true … I think it makes it more beneficial,” Garnett said. “It’s a good thing.”

The former MVP certainly has the means at his disposal to make an impact. He has twice signed NBA contracts topping $100 million, in addition to his millions in endorsement deals.

Garnett said he always had been a big fan of giving to charity even dating to his days growing up poor in Mauldin, S.C., but he never dreamed of one day being able to make such a sizable donation.

“I never would have imagined it being on this kind of scale,” Garnett said. “Even back in school, whether it was 10 cents or 20 cents to get an extra milk or an extra tea, that’s just the way I am.

“I’m from the bottom, I understand what it’s like to have and to not have. My perception on giving is to put yourself in those people’s shoes and go from there. So that’s what I did.”