Paul Pierce is a surefire Hall of Famer and one of the greatest Boston Celtics of all-time. He spent 15 years with the Celtics, won a championship, and built the vast majority of his resume there. In the past two seasons, Pierce has played with the Brooklyn Nets and the Washington Wizards, respectively, before becoming a free agent again. It was assumed that Pierce was choosing between going back to Washington for the 2015-16 season or joining forces with former coach Doc Rivers again with the Los Angeles Clippers, but that may not be the case. Pierce reportedly seriously considered joining the Celtics again this offseason, according to Jay King of Masslive.com.
Pierce ultimately chose to go to Los Angeles, which is close to his home town and likely gives him the best chance to add another championship to his resume, but a return to Boston would have been a great story. It is unknown whether there were talks between Pierce and the Celtics about a possible return or how close it was to happening, but Rivers said that Boston was the only other place he would have signed.
"I think he wanted to go one of two places, he wanted to come back here or he wanted to finish his career at home where he grew up, and I think it's really cool for me that I can be a part of that," said Rivers at TD Garden.
Boston will be just fine without Pierce, as they are a young team on the come up, but any time one of your legends wants to return for one final run, that can make for a great story. Pierce still has some game left too, as he hit several clutch shots for the Wizards a year ago and still averaged about 12 points while shooting 39 percent on three pointers. The Clippers will be getting a clutch player who is championship tested and will lead their team where they need to go.
Although Pierce ultimately decided not to go back to Boston, this story does make you realize just how great his career there was. In 15 seasons, he played in more than 1,100 games while averaging 21.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists and will easily go down as not only one of the greatest Celtics of all-time, but one of the greatest players of his generation.
