Paul Pierce- One Final Year
Paul Pierce, often referred to as "The Truth," of the L.A. Clippers announced on the Player Tribune early this morning that the 2016-17 season will be his final year in the league. Pierce is another player to join the group of greats that have recently decided to call it a career. Players in this group include Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett. Let's take a quick look back at the career that Paul Pierce has had.
Paul Pierce's NBA career started in 1998, after leaving the University of Kansas his junior year and declaring for the NBA Draft. Pierce was selected 10th overall by the Boston Celtics. Throughout his career, Pierce has played for a few teams. These teams were the Boston Celtics (1998-2013), Brooklyn Nets (2013-2014), Washington Wizards (2014-2015), and the L.A. Clippers (2015-current.) Much of Pierce's success came with the Boston Celtics. While on this team, he won an NBA Championship alongside Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett. He also won Finals MVP that same year. Other rewards for Pierce include All-NBA Rookie team in 1999 and being a 10x NBA All-Star.
While this seems like quite the successful career for an individual, Pierce says he has one more year left in him to go for one more ring. Pierce told that Player Tribune that "Just like any difficult decision, I think you’ve got to be at peace with yourself. I’m at peace with retiring, but I’ve got one more ride left. One more season. One more opportunity." He later went on to say the Clippers are hungry, and want a championship. While Pierce has shown that confidence in his team, he is also humble for everything in his career. He would go on to say that this year he will enjoy every game, practice, team dinners, and running out of the tunnels. He is going to enjoy his last year in the league, while also putting every bit of effort to help his team get that NBA Championship.
