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Paul Pierce considers retirement after Wizards' crushing Game 6 elimination
It is safe to say that Paul Pierce and the Washington Wizards were eliminated from the 2015 postseason under crushing circumstances. Pierce looked to have knocked down a buzzer-beater three-pointer to put Game 6 against the Atlanta Hawks into overtime, only for referees to review the play and deem that the ball had not left his hands before the clock showed all zeroes. A difference of a split-second turned a thrilling comeback into one of the worst possible ways to finish out the season.
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For Pierce himself, the dramatic moment may end up as the last play of a Hall of Fame career. After the Wizards' loss, Pierce was not shy about discussing his future in or out of the NBA. From Adam Kilgore for The Washington Post:
As he walked off the corner of the Verizon Center court Friday night, Paul Pierce looked into the crowd and saluted once, twice, three times. He tossed his headband into the stands and flicked his wrist band at another group of fans. And then Pierce ducked his head and disappeared down the tunnel, a quiet exit after a sickening end, another piece of him left behind, maybe for the final time.
“Truthfully, what was going through my mind is, I don’t have too much of these efforts left, if any,” Pierce said. “These rides throughout the NBA season, throughout the playoffs, are very emotional. They take a lot out of not only your body, but your mind, your spirit.” [...]
Pierce has a $6 million player option for next season. He will consult with his children, his wife and his mother before he decides to play for Washington next season, he said, or whether he will play at all. The 37-year-old future Hall of Famer, after a 17-year career that included a championship in Boston and a revival in Washington, may have played his final game.
“I don’t even know if I’m going to play basketball anymore,” Pierce said.
There is no doubt that Pierce proved he can contribute to a playoff team at his age, even if he will turn 38 next October. The Truth hit big shot after big shot after big shot in these past few weeks and was generally the Wizards' best offensive option in crunch time. His per-game numbers weren't bad either — 14.6 ppg on 48.5 percent shooting from the field and 52.4 percent from beyond the arc. These are excellent numbers for a third or fourth option in a playoff series. Pierce obviously wasn't quite so effective in the regular season, but his numbers were quite good for someone who adds most of his value as a playoff performer.
The question, of course, is not whether Pierce can contribute, but whether he wants to. That $6-million player option is an enticing reason to come back, but Pierce is estimated to have made more than $190 million over his 17 seasons and doesn't appear to be hurting for money. It's an entirely possible that he'll decide it's not worth spending another season trudging through 82 games and likely a few rounds of the playoffs just to see another difficult defeat. While context matters, Pierce sounds like a person who had considered retirement before the immediate aftermath of elimination.
This decision will ultimately be a personal one for Pierce, so it's probably best if we opt not to analyze it in too much detail. However, we can reflect on what he has done and still continues to do. Pierce has occupied many roles in the league, including those of the bright young star, isolated producer on an otherwise bad team, deserving champion, grizzled veteran, complaint-prone old timer, and capable elder with a few more back-breaking game-winners left in him. Few one-time stars stay relevant for quite so long, if only because they struggle to adapt to the limitations brought on by the aging process.
Whenever Pierce retires, he will do so on his own terms, without the sense that he stuck around a year or two too long. If this was his last game, then he went out as a winner. Even if the shot didn't count.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
