“Started the Beef Between Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen”: Kendrick Perkins Recalls How Chris Paul Broke Up the ’08 Celtics

It wouldn’t be a stretch to call the 2008 Boston Celtics an NBA super team. Of course, the squad was not the first from Boston to win a championship. However, the feats they achieved that season, and things that they could have achieved had they not broken up, make the time a rather romantic period for the Boston faithful.

Invariably, when the members of that team get together, they end up trying to dissect what went wrong after they won the 2008 championship. The Big 3, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen, failed to recapture the magic in subsequent years, preventing them from becoming a true dynasty.

Also, they were unfortunate to have a key player like Garnett injured in the subsequent season. They lost players like James Posey and had to plan an offense centered around Rajon Rondo, which didn’t really work. But these are just footnotes in what could be an entire book.

Former Celtics star Kendrick Perkins, who witnessed this downfall firsthand, however, blames Chris Paul.

“CP3, he broke up a happy home, without even knowing he broke up a happy home. He started the f****** beef between the Boston Celtics without even knowing that he started beef. That’s how great he was in New Orleans,” Perkins started, who had played with Paul in high school.

Perkins revealed that Paul wasn’t much of a threat in school. He was a late bloomer. “He started the breakup with the Celtics. He started the beef between Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen,” he claimed.

“There’s a reason that they had to get on gloves in the weight room and fight each other, because of the tension. Because Ray was lobbying to trade for CP3… And the word had gotten back to Rondo like, ‘Hey, bro was trying to trade you,'” Perkins added.

Perkins asserted that the only reason he even brought up the story was to show just how great Paul is. “When you are able to move the needle to f*** up a championship roster and f*** up some pieces that are fresh off a championship, you know you are doing something,” he said.

Well, if you are writing a book about the breakup of the ’08 Boston Celtics, this story can be featured in a few memorable pages, if not a chapter. But do note: Perkins’ stories should always be taken with a pinch of salt!