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Although Ray Allen hadn’t played in an NBA game in two years, on Tuesday he killed all hopes that he might join one of the playoff contenders vying for him by announcing that he was retiring.  His former teammate Rajon Rondo, however, thought Allen had already hung up his jersey.

Rondo and Allen won a championship together in 2008 with the Boston Celtics but their relationship wasn’t exactly a good one.

Paul Pierce previously explained:

“It was a weird relationship,” Pierce told Jackie MacMullan for ESPN. “We were all good friends on the court, but Ray always did his own thing. That’s just the way Ray was. Even when we were playing together, we’d be having a team dinner and Ray wouldn’t show up. We’d go to his charity events but Ray wouldn’t show up to somebody else’s.

“I called him on it. I said, ‘Man, Ray, we support all your stuff but when we ask you, you don’t come to ours.’ I remember when Rondo re-signed with Boston, we had a little dinner at a restaurant and Ray didn’t show up.

“I know Ray probably didn’t like Rondo that much, but it wasn’t a fact of not liking somebody. You don’t have to like everybody you play with — it’s a matter of showing support.

“Rondo probably didn’t like Ray either, but he came to Ray’s functions to show, ‘Hey, we’re together in this.’

By the 2011-12 season, there was  reportedly “friction” between Rondo and Allen, and Ray left the Celtics to go play with the Miami Heat which was the last team he played for before retirement.

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