All summer long, we've been waiting for a definitive answer from Paul Pierce about when his career could be coming to an end. With Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and now Kevin Garnett all retiring from the NBA within a few months of each other, Pierce seemed to be the next man up in possibly calling it a career and looking forward to a Hall of Fame enshrinement five years later. But we're not going to induct Pierce into the Hall with those three above. He'll have to wait one more season.
The Los Angeles Clippers forward announced on the Players' Tribune that he's coming back for the 2016-17 season and then he's going to call it quits. Since he knows that he's going to retire after this coming season, he's going to soak it all in and cherish every single moment with this Clippers team as he hopes to help Doc Rivers win another championship together after their title in Boston in 2008.
This is it, my final season.
It's time to move on from the game of basketball.
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.
With the Clippers, in the city where I grew up, I feel like I have that opportunity on a great team. We're hungry. We want to win a championship.
After 18 NBA years, it's hard to believe I'll be playing in each arena for the last time. So I'm going to enjoy every practice, every bus ride, every team dinner, every time running out through the tunnel. I'm going to do my part to give us a shot at the ultimate goal.
This will give 19 seasons to his Hall of Fame career in which he spent 15 of them as a member of the Boston Celtics. He was second all-time in Celtics scoring behind John Havlicek before moving on to the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, and now the Clippers. Coming to the Clippers last season was a full-circle moment for Pierce, considering he's from Los Angeles and got to reunite with Rivers. But his season didn't go to plan with him only playing in 68 games and shooting 36.3 percent from the field.
He has a chance to add some finishing touches on an already spectacular career. He's 16th all-time in games played, 18th in minutes played, 4th in 3-pointers made, 21st in steals, and 19th in scoring.
