Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce was a recent guest on the All The Smoke podcast and talked about all things NBA. As usual, it had a good storytelling session with hosts and outspoken ex-NBAers Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes.

Of course, the beef that everyone knows about was brought up.

“This is my whole deal with Ray and the reason I had a problem with him. One, he went to our rival… Two, I was calling him when [the Celtics] were in the middle of contract negotiations before he left. He’s not answering anybody’s calls and I’m hearing he’s going to Miami. He’s not returning my call. I just feel like as a certain respect as a teammate, as a brother, we can have this conversation.”

Paul Pierce

As you know, Pierce had a five-year run with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen from 2007-2012. The ‘Big Three’ immediately catapulted the Celtics into elite status, which included an NBA championship in their first season together and a second Eastern Conference title in 2010.

The partnership ended when Allen surprisingly joined with the Miami Heat in the 2012 offseason – the team that eliminated Boston in the two prior seasons. They were led by LeBron James, an extremely disliked rival.

Both sides – the Celtics and Allen – have very understandable arguments as to why they soured against each other.

For Allen, it was due to all the endless trade talks he’d being involved in while the season was on-going, including one that dated back to 2009 that only got called off at the last minute. At one point, he was almost relegated to the bench too.

Although Allen was in his mid-30s and was slowing down when all those discussions were flying around, it did appear like the Celtics front office didn’t value him as much as Garnett, Pierce, or Rondo. You really can’t expect a good relationship when you treat a star player as an unwilling trade chip, especially if it’s that blatant.

Pierce, on the other hand, did make a solid point explaining what he and the other Celtics felt from a teammate’s point-of-view.

“If you’re not wanting to play with us no more, at least let us know … I felt that was a slap in the face or disrespect from a brother. So that was my whole beef with him, and other guys felt the same way.”

Paul Pierce

Many fans are critical of the Celtics seemingly not being able to move on from what happened, but one may not be able to understand the emotion it carried unless you were on their shoes. Also, as Pierce said, it’s not so much about leaving, but rather where he went to and how he left.

The “other guys” were pretty much the whole Boston core from that era, most notably Kevin Garnett, who had a number of moments where he did not acknowledge or half-heartedly acknowledged Allen, and Rajon Rondo, who’s been butting heads with Allen way before all the issues transpired.

In 2017, several Celtics reunited on Garnett’s Inside the NBA segment, Area 21, and addressed the beef:

The good news is that everyone excluding Rondo (their beef is deeper than anyone on the team) do sound like they are much cooler with Allen now, so things should hopefully get smoother moving forward.

Pierce, in particular, has always said he doesn’t really have any ill feelings anymore. He also talked about it in the podcast.

“[Ray and I] have talked … I don’t have no problem with Ray today.”

Paul Pierce

In September of 2018, when Allen was inducted into the basketball Hall-of-Fame, Pierce also congratulated him on ESPN.

Garnett did too – sort of.

The @KGArea21 Twitter account isn’t really Garnett’s personally, but since it’s for his show, he might have good influence on what content is being posted, especially if it’s about Allen.

One of the intriguing questions now is Allen’s relationship with the Celtics management, and whether he’ll ever get the same recognition that his two other co-stars have. Pierce’s no. 34 is already up in the TD Garden’s rafters and Garnett’s no. 5 is scheduled to be raised in the 2020-21 season. Allen’s no. 20, meanwhile, is currently used by Gordon Hayward.

You can watch the entire episode below: