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Paul Pierce to retire after 2016-17 season

Jason Miller / Getty Images Sport / Getty

This upcoming year will be the last season for The Truth.

Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul Pierce wrote on The Players' Tribune that he plans to retire after the 2016-17 season.

"This is it, my final season. It's time to move on from the game of basketball," he wrote.

"Just like any difficult decision, I think you’ve got to be at peace with yourself. I’m at peace with retiring, but I’ve got one more ride left. One more season. One more opportunity."

Pierce, 38, took the summer to finalize his plans after toiling through the roughest year of his career last season. He averaged career-lows across the board and shot just 36.3 percent from the field.

Nevertheless, the allure of chasing another title before riding off into the sunset was too much to pass up. The Clippers have one of the league's most talented rosters, and if Pierce were to recapture a semblance of his former glory, he could be a vital role player off the bench.

Once he hangs up his sneakers, Clippers coach Doc Rivers says plans are in place for Pierce to retire as a Boston Celtic.

"If Paul decides to retire, then we're going to make sure that Boston picks him up for one day and he retires a Celtic, because that's what he should retire as," Rivers said in July. "So we have all that in place. We just don't know what he's going to do."

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