The Nets made one of the biggest acquisition this offseason after getting power forward Kevin Garnett and small forward Paul Pierce from the Boston Celtics. The deal became official Friday and the two star’s former team showed them there are no hard feelings, according to ESPNBoston.com.
The Celtics took out an ad in the Boston Globe thanking the two stars for their service to the team:
"Thank you for your heart, for your passion, for your sacrifice, for playing through the pain, for bleeding green, for honoring tradition, for an amazing ride, for restoring Celtic pride for Banner 17."
Pierce and Garnett (along with Miami Heat shooting guard Ray Allen) began the “Big 3” trend back in 2007 when they came together for the first time. Also—unlike Miami’s “Big 3”—they won an NBA title in their first year together.
Pierce had been a Celtic his entire career before going to Brooklyn. He played 15 seasons with the team and will go down as one of the greatest Celtics of all time. Fans of the team are probably more endearing to Garnett and Pierce since Allen left before last season and took his talents to South Beach.
Some have questioned how much Pierce has left in the tank at age 35. However, he’s not worried.
"Who says it's the end of my career? I plan on playing 10 more years, dude," the University of Kansas product said recently joking with a TMZ reporter.
In addition to Pierce and Garnett the Nets also added guard Jason Terry (who was included in the trade with the Celtics), guard Shaun Livingston, re-signed forward Andray Blatche and reportedly agreed to a deal with forward Andrei Kirilenko.
The Nets gave up forward Kris Humphries, forward Gerald Wallace, forward Kris Joseph, guard MarShon Brooks. They also did a sign-and-trade with guard Keith Bogans and gave up three first-round picks for 2014, 2016 and 2018.
