In an interview with The Athletic’s Shams Charania ahead of Allen’s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday, Allen said “I don’t expect to” receive congratulatory messages from former Boston teammates like Kevin Garnett or Rajon Rondo.
Allen noted his relationship with Paul Pierce was ironed out during a meeting in 2017, but Celtics players “were upset with me because I left for Miami.”
Allen also said he won’t enter the Hall of Fame with any specific team from his career.
When the Celtics retired Pierce’s No. 34 jersey in February, Allen wasn’t at the TD Garden and went golfing instead.
Two days after the ceremony, Allen posted a photo on Instagram from the 2007-08 season with Pierce’s arm around him and a message to his former teammates:
“What we did in 2008 was special! Not only by Boston standards but by professional sports standards. The truth is, without any one of us on that team we would’ve never been able to do the unthinkable. Going from last place in one year to winning a championship is unfathomable. But, we did it! … You may not want to hear this, but I will always be a Celtic. (Fact). I will always cherish the bonds that I shared with all of my teammates and the people in the city of Boston. (Truth). We all gave everything we had. We all won and we all raised the 2008 NBA Championship banner together. (Ubuntu) Paul Pierce is the first guy that welcomed Kevin and me with open arms into his atmosphere from day one and we never looked back. Paul and I have spoken about our time together as teammates- going to battle night after night knowing we could count on one another and we have also talked about my decision to leave during free agency- a choice I made for my family.”
In his 2018 book, From the Outside: My Journey Through Life and the Game I Love, Allen wrote that he chose to leave the Celtics prior to the 2012-13 season because their contract offer was lower than what he was looking for.
“So let me see if I got this straight,” Allen wrote (h/t Sean Deveney of Sporting News). “You want to pay me less money. You want to bring me off the bench. You want to continue to run the offense around Rondo. Now tell me again exactly why I would want to sign this contract?”
Allen won an NBA title in his first season with the Heat. The Celtics went 41-40 that year and traded Pierce and Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets in the offseason.
Courtesy: Bleacher Report
