Paul Pierce will always be a Boston Celtic.
Sure, he’s played with three teams since the Celtics traded him to the Brooklyn Nets after the 2012-13 campaign — one season each for the Nets, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers.
But people will remember him as a great Celtics player before anything else.
Pierce reportedly plans to play next season, his 19th as a pro, but if he decides to walk away, Clippers head coach and president Doc Rivers will let him go to the Celtics so he can retire with the historic franchise.
“If Paul decides to retire, then we’re going to make sure that Boston picks him up for one day and he retires a Celtic because that’s what he should retire as,” Rivers told Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski during a recent edition of The Vertical Podcast.
“So we have all that in place. We just don’t know what he’s going to do.”
Retiring as a Celtic would be a fitting end for Pierce, who spent 15 years in green and helped the team win its 17th Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2008.
His No. 34 almost certainly will be retired to the TD Garden rafters soon after he retires.
Thumbnail photo via Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports Images
