On June 28, 2007, a lot of things happened but we can remember two essential events. First, the announcement of the reunion of the Spice Girls on British TV and then, on the other side of the Atlantic, the transfer of Ray Allen from the Supersonics to the Celtics. A huge trade that will have the repercussions that everyone expected. “If you wanna be my lover…” Sorry, bad topic, where were we? Ah yes, Ray Allen.
At the end of the 2006-07 season, the two franchises of Seattle and Boston have nothing very sexy. In Washington, teenage Sue Bird’s Storm has clearly been the best basketball team in town for a few years. The locals were eager for the NBA season to end to make way for the ladies and see some real basketball. With only 31 wins for 51 losses, the Sonics are not in top form and finish last in the North West Division. Only two men manage to keep their heads above water and unfortunately they are not the French Johan Petro and Mickaël Gelabale. It is indeed Rashard Lewis, 22.4 points on average over the season and of course Ray Allen, 31, right in his prime, the franchise’s leading scorer with 26.4 pawns on average. On the other side of the country, in Massachusetts, we are downright last in its conference this time with a record of 24 wins for 58 losses, the second worst record in franchise history. Despite everything, the leaders potentially feel a blow to go to hit higher seeing the very good season of Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo. Danny Ainge believes in it and decides to try his luck. A very long call with the GM of Seattle ends with a very nice deal: Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and Jeff Green fly to Seattle in exchange for Ray-Ray and Glen Davis.
OTD (2007) the Seattle SuperSonics traded Ray Allen to the Boston Celtics right before they drafted Kevin Durant!
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) June 28, 2020
The best shooter in the League and one of the greatest snipers of all time therefore arrives at the Celtics and at the same time becomes a major argument for signing big players during this Free Agency 2007. A month later, it’s Kevin Garnett’s turn to arrive in Boston, Danny Ainge having performed a new magic trick. Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff and Sebastian Telfair leave for Minnesota and the Big Ticket arrives at the Celtics with the words of its new General Manager still fresh in its head. For the latter, there is enough talent to dream of the quest for a new banner. The rest, we know it:he new Big Three Allen-Pierce-Garnett pockets the NBA title in their first season together and returns Boston to the top22 years following Beantown’s last trophy. Three years later, Ray Allen passed Reggie Miller in the all-time standings by 3-pointers in the regular season on the floor of TD Garden. The last page of his rich history in the Celtics jersey before joining a certain LeBron James on the South Beach side.
5987 points and 798 shots from the parking lot in a Celtics jersey, not bad in five seasons, right? Ray Allen wrote during his time in Beantown an unforgettable story for the fans with a lot of amazing performances in the Playoffs and records broken on the floor. The rear trained at UConn will not end his career in Massachusetts, but in Miami with a second ring in hand. But this does not mean that Jesus Shuttlesworth is not one of the many legends of this great franchise that is Boston.
