Ray Allen dismisses any notion of there being any beef with Kevin Garnett at the latter’s jersey retirement ceremony.
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The greatest regular season turnaround in NBA history between two seasons took place between the ‘07 and ‘08 Boston Celtics. Acquiring Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in one offseason led to the Celtics winning it all alongside Paul Pierce in 2008 over their rival Los Angeles Lakers.
Nearly 14 year later and Garnett is having his jersey retired and hung in the rafters right beside Pierce’s number 34. The jersey retirement ceremony took place last night in Boston after the Mavericks rained on their parade with a win off the back of a questionable call on Luka Doncic.
Emotions ran high for Kevin Garnett as he saw his number 5 be immortalized alongside Pierce’s jersey number. During his speech, he shouted out Ray Allen and said that he was glad the sharpshooting guard could make it to the ceremony.
The two previously linked up in good spirits at the NBA75 celebration this past All-Star weekend as they dapped each other up and hugged it out as they did last night.
Ray Allen claims there was never any beef between him and Kevin Garnett.
While it is easy to believe that both Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen have buried the hatchet after all these years, it’s quite difficult to believe what Ray just said to Brian Scalabrine.
According to Allen, there was never any beef with KG to begin with for the former Milwaukee Buck. This however, might not be true and even if it is, it may be that Allen doesn’t understand the full extent to which Garnett despised him for a long period of time.
“There was never beef” – Ray Allen talks with @Scalabrine about Celtics Big 3 being on good terms ☘️ pic.twitter.com/mLP62H3jAC
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) March 14, 2022
Ray Allen leaving the Celtics to join their Eastern Conference Rivals in Miami was something that definitely threw a wrench in his relationship with the rest of the Celtics. Kevin Garnett and company cut contact with Ray and didn’t even invite him to their 2017 celebration for that ‘08 title.
So, what could be the most plausible scenario here is that KG held the grudge against Allen to an extent that even the Heat sharpshooter couldn’t fathom, resulting in him downplaying what transpired between them.