Paul Pierce played 15 seasons for the Boston Celtics after being taken 10th by them in the 1998 NBA Draft. In those 15 seasons, he essentially averaged 22 points, six rebounds and four assists, made four All-NBA appearances, 10 All-Star appearances and won an NBA Finals MVP award in 2008.
Pierce ended his career as a Los Angeles Clipper this past season at the age of 39, but he will forever be remembered as one of the greatest Celtics of all-time, not an easy feat considering they have essentially been the class of the NBA since their existence.
Because of this, Pierce’s number 34 jerseys will be hanging in the rafters along with all of the other Celtics greats starting next season.
Celtics to retire Paul Pierce's No. 34 during 2017-18 season ? https://t.co/jQch8fifW6 pic.twitter.com/2aTd0NDuar
— theScore (@theScore) August 18, 2017
This was announced by Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca on Friday to the Boston Globe:
“It’s going to be fantastic,” Pagliuca said. “For our era, the most recent era, he embodied the Celtics’ leadership, the Celtics’ brand and was the MVP of the championship team. So it’s going to be fantastic to see that happen.”
This is obviously a no-brainer for the Celtics, one can assume Kevin Garnett’s No. 5 jersey will be retired someday as well. One person whose jersey won’t be retired from the championship team of the late 2000s is Ray Allen, you can ask Rajon Rondo why.
