Paul Pierce has signed a contract with the Celtics in order to officially retire as a member of the franchise, the team announced today in a press release. Within the release, Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck said that he looks forward to seeing Pierce’s number “raised to the rafters of TD Garden.”
“It’s an honor to have this opportunity to once again call myself a Boston Celtic,” Pierce said in a statement. “The organization and city took me in and made me one of their own, and I couldn’t imagine ending my career any other way. I’m a Celtic for life.”
Pierce, who won a championship with the Celtics in 2008, announced last September that the 2016/17 season would be the last of his illustrious career. He was waived by the Clippers in late June for bookkeeping purposes after they reached an agreement with the Rockets on the blockbuster Chris Paul trade.
Pierce began his career in Boston in 1998 and remained there until 2013, when he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets during the offseason. He spent one season there and another with the Wizards before heading out West. He played two seasons with the Clippers and appeared in 25 regular-season and seven postseason games in his final campaign.
In 1,343 career games, the shoo-in Hall of Famer averaged 19.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG and 3.5 APG. He also appeared in 170 postseason games, finishing with a slash line of 18.7/5.8/3.4.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I loved Pierce. Best wishes to him in the future.
Ditto
He had a great career.
Definitely one of the greatest small forwards ever.
I remember when he was a 2 guard
He embodied what it meant to be a Celtic. #truth
HOF for sure
He should have played this season with us. He would have put us over the top. But then again, the truth can do what the truth wants because he is the one and only truth
My favorite player of all-time. Salute to you, Paul Pierce! Thanks for everything!
I wonder how many of the same Celtics fans that rightfully love him now were the same people talking trash about him the couple of years prior to them getting KG and Ray Allen…
I always was a big fan of young Paul Pierce. He kind of became a little douchey after they added KG and Ray Allen, but I guess that was partly due to the previous hate he took, and likely brought on by the target that was kind of on them at that point. But he was an exciting scorer when he was young, and he became a real killer. You always knew where it was going in the biggest moments, and he would step on your throat every time. He always had next level footwork at his position, in my opinion, and that enabled him to expand his game and change his game as he got older. The defensive issues he had when he was younger seem like a long time ago too, as he turned himself into a capable lockdown defender, especially when it mattered most.
Honestly, I never liked the fit in LA for him, but he did live out there, so that was the main factor behind that. I just felt he had at least another year left in him at the time, and I think he deserved to go out in a better situation. I actually thought he made sense back in Boston at the time, obviously at the 4 spot….Anyway, congrats to him on a great career. These last few years have been tough for me to see so many of the guys I grew up watching leaving the game, and this is one of those things that makes me feel a little older, just remembering how he was early in his career. From an opponent’s/outsider perspective, now as I’m almost 26, thanks for the memories, even the ones that killed my team over and over again
Nah I always loved Pierce. I did hate on Antoine Walker though.
‘Toine would have been better in today’s game, although defensive questions could have impacted that b/c of his conditioning. People still love him down here in Miami for the championship team in 2006, but after that, he was pretty much maligned for his conditioning and other issues while he was still here. I always liked him when he was in Boston. His skillset was much more unique at the time. I thought he and Pierce had real chemistry the first time they were together
Not really. Pierce went through some awful, awful teams during his time in Boston. I think some people forget that the Celtics were pretty good in the early 2000s. Pierce was always the main guy that the Celtics had. Pierce led the team in WS up until the Big 3 (with the exception of 06-07 when Al Jefferson led the team). The Celtics built with Pierce and Antoine and when Antoine was traded, they had to rebuild. I’ll forever love Pierce and Antoine for getting me into basketball, but Pierce gets my utmost respect for sticking it out through some bad, bad teams.
I honestly loved watching that team. I always thought they were talked poorly about for no reason. I never understood the way people act like they were trash. People kind of talked about Pierce a little similarly to how they stupidly talk about Melo now, with the exception of the money part. He was super underrated before they got KG and Ray Allen, and even when they first got them, people kind of were still like that about Pierce until they won
Hard worker, respect.
Sorry…I can’t get that intentional hard foul on
Alex Burkes they may have ended Alex’s career…I guess we will see this year. His baskeball career has not been the same since. That’s my memory of PP.
So horrors separated Just use Winslows shoulder after the game ended last year, and I don’t think of him as a malicious person that intentionally would do that. Injuries happen in basketball, and Burks has been injury prone
he has been “injury prone” since that dirty foul by PP.
*sigh* autocorrect destroyed that first sentence lol…Horford and Justise Winslow
I will never forget watching Paul hit that buzzer beater when he was on the Wizards