Ray Allen: Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce Haven't Talked to Me Since I Left Celtics

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce aren't ones to forgive and forget.

Just ask Ray Allen, who hasn't talked with his former teammates since he left the Boston Celtics for the Miami Heat.

"They haven’t spoken to me," Allen said before Miami lost to Boston, per the Boston Herald's Mark Murphy.

The rift between the three has been alive and well for over a year. Cold shoulders abounded when the Heat opened 2012-13 against the Celtics. Garnett refused to acknowledge Allen, and it's been one-sided antipathy ever since.

Anyone who was hoping Pierce and Garnett would understand Allen's decision to leave after being dealt to the Brooklyn Nets was wrong, including Allen:

"

Look, I have a feeling they were in the same predicament I was in this summer. Even with Doc (Rivers), he had to make a decision that was best for himself. I was in the same situation. I’m happy they were put into the same situation as I was. Anytime you get traded there’s no telling where you could end up. They’re in a situation now where they can contend. Kevin had to make that decision, and that was the predicament I was in.

"

There will always be those who will argue that Pierce and Garnett didn't have a choice. They, unlike Allen, were traded; they didn't willingly leave during free agency.

But if you don't think Garnett and Pierce had veto power of some sort, you're sorely mistaken. Garnett actually had to waive his no-trade clause before going anywhere. The two situations aren't that different, and people like LeBron James know it.

"I think the first thing I thought was, 'Wow, Ray got killed for leaving Boston, and now these guys are leaving Boston,'" LeBron pointed out in October, via ESPN's Brian Windhorst. "I think it's OK; I didn't mind it. But there were a couple guys who basically [expletive] on Ray for leaving, and now they're leaving."

Naturally, that elicited a response from KG, who, according to ESPN New York's Mike Mazzeo, told the Chosen One to worry about his own team.

By now, if nothing's changed, it's not going to. Neither Pierce nor Garnett seems to see the similarities in their departures, and even if they did, Allen's presence on an archrival like the Heat was never going to be accepted.

To Allen's credit, he doesn't appear to harbor any resentment. Then again, he got out of Dodge first. Those who leave before everyone else are likely more open to repairing damaged relationships than the ones who were initially slighted.

Still, you would think everyone involved—Doc Rivers, KG, The Truth, Allen—would understand the NBA is a business and recognize that they won a title together. Like it or not, they'll always be associated with a successful era in Beantown.

"For them to be so upset with me is disappointing because of how everything happened," Allen said, per Murphy. "That banner in 2008 is still going to be there, and we’re still going to be tied to it."

One day, perhaps they'll be tied to more than just a banner and an ongoing feud.

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