2011 Boston Celtics: Paul Pierce Could End His Career How He Started It

Entering the 1998-99 NBA season, the offseason looked very similar to the way this offseason has fallen into place.

The only difference is that many current players, including Paul Pierce, hadn’t played a professional basketball game yet.

“The Truth” was drafted No. 10 overall by the Boston Celtics in the 1998 NBA Draft out of the University of Kansas.

Pierce played the second fewest games of his career (48) that season due to the lockout-shortened season.

The rookie had one of his best statistical seasons of his career in only his first year in the league, posting a 41 percent three-point shooting percentage along with 117 offensive rebounds.

Pierce played through awful years, with Antoine Walker, and eventually made it to the glory days, with the "Big 3" and an NBA title.

Now, at the tail-end of his career, Pierce is one of only three Celtics players to score over 20,000 points in his career, joining the likes John Havlicek and Larry Bird.

Pierce’s durability was in question before he signed a four-year $61 million deal during last year’s offseason.

The captain followed up with starting 80 games in the 2010 campaign, missing only two games. “The Truth” had a career high in field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage last season, hitting 49 percent of his shots and 86 percent of his shots at the charity stripe.

The 13-year veteran has been through it all over his distinguished career—nine-time All-Star, four-time All-NBA team, 2008 NBA Finals MVP, 2008 NBA champion and, most recently, two lockouts in his professional career.

Now Paul Pierce looks back at where he started—in the same situation, just with some years on his proverbial “tires.”

The Celtic legend is streaking toward the end of his career—Pierce has three seasons left on his current contract, with the last year not guaranteed.

He has played through 13 vigorous seasons, all for the Boston green team, and could use a break from the strenuous 82-game season.

Pierce showed in his first year that he can perform with a limited season and could extend his career to finish out his contract with the Celtics by playing fewer minutes on the parquet floor.

The lockout doesn’t have an end in sight, but retaining Pierce for even one more year should leave Celtics fans anxious in anticipation.

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