Paul Pierce, the Celtics captain, perennial all-star and 2008 MVP of the NBA Finals, might have played his last game as a Celtic when the purple and yellow confetti dropped to the floor of the Staples Center earlier this month.

After the Celtics lost to the Lakers in an epic game 7 of the 2009-10 NBA finals, there were boat loads of questions that team president, Danny Ainge, had to address. One of them was whether or not Paul Pierce was going to opt out of his final year of his contract.