Boston Celtics big three era featuring Kevin Garnett , Paul Pierce and Ray Allen was successful, considering the trio won the championship in 2008. However, four years later, Ray was the first to decide to leave. Not only did he leave, he joined Boston’s biggest rival at the time, Miami Heat.
It caught the Celtics off guard, especially Garnett who feuded with Allen for years . The two-time champion understood that his decision would disappoint the Celtics and its fans but he also didn’t expect the backlash to be as vicious as it was.
” I knew fans in New England wouldn’t be happy with my decision,” Allen wrote in his book entitled From the Outside: My Journey Through Life and the Game I Love.
“But I never could have imagined the degree of unhappiness. They acted as if I was Benedict Arnold. My sin was that I had the nerve to leave on my own .”
Ray felt disrespected by the Celtics first
In the final years of his tenure in Boston, the 10-time All-Star didn’t feel appreciated by his team and management. A lot of that had to do with the fact that the Celtics didn’t want to offer Allen the three-year, $24 million contract he was asking for and instead offered him a two-year, $12 million pact. Then there’s the fact that the C’s tried to trade Ray during the trade deadline, which angered the shooting guard even more.