Paul Pierce

Paul Pierce arrived in Boston in 1998 and spent the next decade constructing a reputation for clutch performance that his "The Truth" nickname — a sobriquet coined by Shaquille O'Neal during a competitive game — accurately reflected. Pierce was the kind of player who elevated in late-game situations not through athleticism but through positional intelligence, footwork, and the psychological willingness to take difficult shots in difficult moments.

His 2007-08 championship with Boston — alongside Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen, on a team built specifically to contend — produced a Finals MVP performance against the Los Angeles Lakers that gave his career its defining team achievement. Pierce averaged 21.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 6.3 assists across the six-game series, operating as the offensive engine of a team that had Garnett as its defensive anchor and Allen as its shooting specialist.

He finished his career with 26,397 points — placing him among the top-15 scorers in league history at the time of his retirement. That total came across 19 seasons with seven different franchises, but his identity remains Boston: his career began and ended with the Celtics, and the Garden retired his number before he finished playing elsewhere.