Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, and Paul Pierce were once three of the best players in basketball, taking turns as the most viable challenger to Kobe Bryant’s title as the game’s best wing player. But that was about a decade ago. In 2016, the trio of future Hall of Famers are teaming up on ESPN’s The Jump to discuss the ongoing NBA Finals.
In between breaking down the chances of Steph Curry, LeBron James, and the rest, though, host Rachel Nichols asked Pierce what his future holds. As the 18-year veteran explained that he would discuss the matter with his family before making a decision, McGrady tried to entice him to embrace the life of a former NBA superstar.
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It’s not quite time to pour one out for Pierce, though. The 2008 Finals MVP says he’s currently “50/50” between playing another season and hanging it up for good.
Either way, don’t expect his choice to matter much to the Los Angeles Clippers. Pierce signed a two-year deal with his hometown team last summer in hopes of providing it with some much-needed two-way viability on the wing. Instead of becoming a fixture of Doc Rivers’ crunch-time lineups or even a key reserve, however, Pierce never quite found his footing – he was on the fringe of the Clippers’ playoff rotation before Chris Paul and Blake Griffin succumbed to injuries against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Pierce has already staked his basketball legacy; nothing he does from here on out is likely to change it one way or another. And given his humble response to McGrady’s amusing gesture, it definitely seems that he’ll be at peace with his decision – no matter what it is.
