This retweet from 2010 after Paul Pierce signed an extension in Boston went semi-under the radar until Paul Pierce was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2013.
After pit stops in Brooklyn, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, "its official". Paul Pierce has signed a one-day contract to retire as a Boston Celtic.
Normally I'm not a huge fan of players signing honorary contracts with a former team to retire a "fill in the blank". To me, it's kinda corny, it's fake, it's not real (aka fake). To me, you retire with the team you played your final game with, it's that simple. That's where you ended your career. If you really want to retire with your former team, do what KG did and actually go back there. However the one-day honorary contract happens all the time in other sports. To me it has to be with guys who were Hall of Fame caliber, maybe a step below who spent the majority of their career with one franchise and are forever engrained with that franchise, but finished elsewhere. Guys like Donovan McNabb (Eagles), Jerry Rice (49ers), Frank Thomas (White Sox) and Roy Halladay (Blue Jays) have all done it. Guys like David Tyree doing it is a joke. He's a bum with one career highlight. But apparently it hasn't happened in the NBA before, until now. I still don't believe that, but according to www.rsvlts.com/2015/07/28/one-day-contract-in-sports/ it hasn't yet, they even mentioned Paul Pierce two years ago as a potential first to do so in the Association. According to that same article Roger Craig was the first person to sign an honorary one-day contract, way back in 1994 he signed a one-day contract to retire as a 49er. It makes sense that Paul Pierce would be the first to do so in the NBA. Paul Pierce has always done things a little differently. In 2008 when he helped lead the Boston Celtics to the NBA championship he poured out the gatorade cooler on Doc Rivers. A long lasting tradition in the NFL, not NBA. 
Now he is the first player (unless someone has done it since 2015) in NBA history to sign an honorary contract. Normally I think this is kind of a corny move, but here with Paul Pierce I think it's a little different. Mainly because I don't think he ever wanted to leave Boston, I know I didn't want him to get traded. But we all know "it's a business" and given where the Celtics were headed in the rebuilding process, and how late in Paul's career it was, the move made sense, but still hurt to see him elsewhere. But things have a funny way of working out. In leaving Boston, Paul was able to give Boston a new lease on life. Celtics have been able to draft Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Like Anton on Silicon Valley, or Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he made a sacrifice for the betterment of the team. Given the haul the Celtics received for Paul and Kevin Garnett from the Nets, in a way he did much more for the Celtics by leaving, than he would've by finishing his career there. So because of that I have no issue with him going with this corny ass move, and actually support it. Paul Piece is a Celtic legend whose number will one day by in the rafters, if he wants to sign a bullshit contract to "end his career" as a Celtic, go for it. Plus Paul is a Boston guy through and through. He genuinely supports the other teams. In his final appearance in Boston as a visitor earlier this year, (which happened to be on Super Bowl Sunday) Paul showed up to the Garden decked out in Patriots gear. 
The truth has made no secrets about his allegiances to Boston, even after getting traded. He's shown up at Fenway Park in Celtics garbs for ceremonies multiple times while playing in other cities. As a member of the Wizards Paul wore his old Celtics warmup for Derek Jeter's final game in 2014.
Even with the Celtic's storied history Paul Pierce is easily a top 10 player in franchise history, some believe he's top 5. If there's anybody who is going to sign a one-day contract to retire with their former team, it's Paul Pierce. Although it did work out, he should've never left. Seeing him in those ugly, boring ass, create a team black and white Nets' jerseys was a crime. 
After 19 seasons, 10 All Star Appearances, 4 All-NBA teams, over 26,000 points, and of course the 2007-08 NBA Championship & Finals MVP the great career of the Captain anddddddd The Truth is over. Thanks for everything, Paul. Damn now I'm the one being corny.
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