There’s room for one more number on the eight-square banner that Paul Pierce raised to the TD Garden rafters on Sunday. And The Truth knows who should fill it.
After having his No. 34 retired by the Boston Celtics in a postgame ceremony Sunday, Pierce was asked if it might be a while before the next number goes up. The Celtics legend responded by stumping for his famous ex-teammate, Kevin Garnett.
“Without a doubt, KG’s number will be (the next one) retired in Boston,” Pierce said, via ESPN.com. “It’s going to happen.”
Garnett’s overall basketball résumé is undeniable — 15 All-Star nods in 22 NBA seasons — but some wonder whether he played in Boston long enough. KG spent just six seasons with the Celtics from 2007-08 to 2012-13 after playing the first 12 seasons of his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Garnett helped lift the C’s to an NBA title in 2008, though, and is credited with establishing a winning culture after Boston won just 24 games the previous campaign.
“It was six years of potential championship-caliber teams and All-Star play from KG,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said of Garnett, via ESPN.com. “I think that it was a pretty significant impact he had in those six years.”
Ainge added the team has had informal discussions about retiring Garnett’s number but that a final decision would come from ownership. No Celtics player has worn Garnett’s No. 5 since him and Pierce were traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2013.
