The 2008 Boston Celtics held a televised reunion featuring the stars that made for their legendary run to an NBA Championship.
Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Glen Davis, Kendrick Perkins, Doc Rivers and even the mercurial Rajon Rondo all had some fun reminiscing on their NBA-altering run together. There was one glaring absence though: Ray Allen.
Allen was not invited to the gathering, singled out because of the serious bad blood that's still left a bad taste in everyone's mouths. Ray was the first to depart Boston, leaving behind the Big Three in Boston for LeBron James' new trio with the Miami Heat.
Allen made the decision to make the jump in the offseason after the Celtics lost to James in the Eastern Conference playoffs, adding insult to injury.
"People don't understand that this is real life for us. The situation with Ray is very sensitive. I think that when we all talked about doing this reunion tour, we were talking about guys who we consider loyal and part of this group.
Just being honest, my two cents, when Ray decided to go to the Heat, I felt like he moved on. And he went to pursue another ring, he got another ring, shouts to him. And that's it," Garnett explained during the reunion.
A three-time NBA champion and former teammate of Allen on the Heat, Udonis Haslem, has stepped forward to defend the three-point shooting marksman.
"They got to let that go. I think when you get to a point where you're a free agent, you have the opportunity to make the best decision for you. Quality of life: Boston, Miami? Ahh, you guys can figure that one out," Haslem told Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
“It’s not like the year before with Ray they beat us. Put it this way, it wasn’t the similar situation to maybe Kevin Durant going to the team that beat him. It was, you got your ass whooped with Ray, and we got Ray and we whooped your a** again.“
Those are some very bold words from Haslem, who's spent his entire career playing for the Heat. Udonis' loyalty is one of the reasons Miami's kept his presence in the franchise for 14 seasons.
It's unfortunate that Ray's become the outcast of a very special group of NBA players but if there is some animosity left from his free agency decision, at least Garnett and company aren't being fake to his face.