By now the very public beef between Ray Allen and his former Boston Celtics’ teammates has been well documented. When the three-point sharpshooter bolted from the Celtics to join the Miami Heat back in 2012, he left behind more than a few disgruntled teammates in Beantown.
Recently Kevin Garnett hosted Paul Pierce, Kendrick Perkins, Glen Davis, and Rajon Rondo on his Area 21 show on TNT to reminisce about their time in Boston together.
Ultimately the topic of the feud with Allen ultimately came up. Rondo had organized a reunion for the Celtics’ 2007-2008 championship squad but excluded Allen, so the topic was inevitable.
“People don’t understand that this is real life for us. The situation with Ray is very sensitive. I think when we all talked about doing this reunion tour, we was talking about guys that we consider loyal, part of this group,” Garnett said during the show. “Just being honest. My two cent, man. When Ray decided to go to the Heat, I felt like he moved on. He went to pursue another ring.”
On the same subject Pierce added that Allen had never spoken to him prior to announcing his decision to leave for South Beach.
“I was initially hurt by the whole way everything went down. Like, I don’t have no beef with none of my teammates. I was just hurt on how it went down,” Pierce said. “We all came together, we talked about it. We talked everyday. We hung out all the time and then, when it was time for free agency, and to each his own, but I thought we formed a brotherhood here in Boston,”
He continued by saying, “that’s what I was hurt about when Ray didn’t at least give us a heads up about it.”
It is certainly surprising Allen did not at least give Garnett and Pierce the courtesy of a phone call before moving on to one of Boston’s top rivals at the time. Being upset with the Celtics’ front office for constantly putting him on the trading block is one thing, but Allen leaving his teammates in the dark may be where a lot of the animosity now playing out in the public eye comes from.
