Kevin Garnett over the weekend watched the Boston Celtics raise his No. 5 to the TD Garden rafters, where it will be alongside Paul Pierce’s No. 34.
And if Pierce’s wish years ago had been granted, there’s a good chance neither of those numbers, nor the Celtics’ 17th championship banner, would be atop The Garden today.
A somewhat surprising story was revealed last year that Pierce wanted out of Boston after some ugly finishes in the mid-2000s. He thought he could help Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and the Dallas Mavericks get to the top, which he probably could have. But the trade got killed – Mark Cuban says it was a third team involved in the trade that did so – and Pierce stayed in Boston.
The Celtics ended up acquiring Garnett and Ray Allen, and so began the Celtics’ “Big Three” era.
Pierce explained why he had been angling for the move to Dallas to Gilbert Arenas on the “No Chill with Gilbert Arenas” podcast.
“Lot of people don’t even know this. I wanted to go to Dallas," Pierce said. "At the time, I didn’t want to be that guy to make a public trade announcement – that wasn’t the most popular thing like it is today. But I was trying to manufacture something to Dallas because I just didn’t think the Celtics were ever going to turn it around. It was me and Antoine (Walker), we were building something, and they tore it down. I’m in the middle of my fifth, sixth year, I’m getting better, I’m in the All-Star Game every year, and then we’re going back to rebuilding. We had the worst record in the league in 2006-2007, and I’m like ‘I’m the oldest on the team and I’m 27, why would I want to play with a bunch of 19 year-olds? It’s time for me to start getting some love.’ …
“I just wanted to be in the playoffs, I wanted a shot. At the time, the Mavs were pushing the button. They were winning 50 games every year, they were that team that needed one more player to get them over the top because Dirk is Dirk. And I was like s--t, they’re going to be there if they get that one dude, and I think I can be that dude. I wanted to meet up with Mark Cuban, it never happened, but I was pushing the front office and telling my agent if I go anywhere, get me to Dallas.”
It ended up working out in the end for Pierce, as the Celtics won the NBA title in 2008, while the Mavericks bowed out in five first-round games against the New Orleans Hornets. The Mavericks ended up winning it all three years later, beating a Miami Heat team that had pummeled Pierce and the Celtics in five games during the second round.
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