As Ray Allen prepares to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame later this month, there have been some questions about whether or not his former Boston Celtics teammates will cast their differences aside and be there to support the former sharpshooter. Allen clearly isn’t counting on it.
In a lengthy interview with Shams Charania of The Athletic, Allen was asked if he expects to speak with or hear from any of his ex-Celtics teammates about his enshrinement in Springfield. He was pretty blunt.
“No, I don’t expect to,” Allen told Charania.
Allen, of course, angered his former Celtics teammates when he chose to sign with the Miami Heat in 2012 rather than continuing to chase championships in Boston, where he helped win a title in 2008. He said he has since made amends with Paul Pierce but has not spoken with Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo or others.
“I talked to Paul a year ago today, and we patched it out,” Allen said. “So much was made about my decision, and they were upset with me because I left for Miami. But it will never change what went on between us in 2008.”
Allen was not among the former Celtics players present when the team retired Pierce’s No. 34 jersey earlier this year, though he later shared a lengthy statement explaining why things are fine between him and Pierce. Allen’s relationship with Rondo, however, is a much different story, and we got a sense of that with some of the things written in Allen’s book and the way Rondo reacted to them.
