Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen were two of the former 20 Celtics named to the NBA’s 75th anniversary team that was revealed this week by the league.
The inclusion of both Hall of Famers on the list of the NBA’s best 75 players comes as no surprise. However, one gesture by Garnett is sure to turn some heads given the duo’s icy relationship over the past decade.
Garnett congratulated Allen and Paul Pierce directly in an Instagram story post on Thursday, stating “Truly bless and well deserved to both. Congrats kings” while tagging both Pierce and Allen.
Garnett has been very outspoken in the past about his frosty relationship with Allen since he left Boston to sign with the rival Heat in the summer of 2012.
“I’ve been very vocal on my distaste for what Ray did, that was real for everybody that was involved,” Garnett told the Boston Globe in April 2020. “That’s real life. We was in a real beef with Miami at the time and very similar to if someone was to go from the Lakers to the Celtics, and vice versa. No one will speak on the underlyings of it, but that was a real thing. Miami and Boston. That was a real thing.
“Ray made a decision; I wouldn’t expect Ray to be at anything of mine. And vice versa. If I see him, I’ll speak. I’ll say hello to his family like always. He knows that decision altered and made us all feel different.”
However, Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers have spoken about wanting to reunite the two in recent years in the wake of Pierce and Allen mending fences themselves in 2020. Garnett is set to have his jersey retired at the TD Garden in March 2022 and that’s one place where a reunion could happen between Boston’s Big Three.
“KG is getting his jersey retired next year, and I’m hoping everyone is there,” Rivers told reporters last year. “I’ll make the right calls -- that doesn’t mean the right things will happen.”
Other ex-Celtics such as former president of basketball operations Danny Ainge are also eager to see the two sides can be brought together again by Pierce and see their relationship repaired.
“I read somewhere where Paul is going to try to rekindle the relationship with Ray and KG and try to bring them together. I’m glad that they are,” Ainge told MassLive. “They should. I hope that it would happen. Whether it happens or not, I’m glad Paul is trying to make that happen.”
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