Paul Pierce is a great basketball player. Forward for the Washington Wizards this past year, he led the team to some incredibly memorable moments. Although they were unable to advance past the Hawks in round two of the playoffs, he’s still a reason the Wizards are a team considered to be on the verge of being a contender for a title.

“The Truth,” although having had better seasons in the past, put up decent numbers this year, averaging 11.9 points per game. He found himself more and more towards the end of the year taking shots behind the three point line. This quickly became his specialty. He has been fairly comfortable from deep his entire career, but it was really showing this year as a Wizard.

Pierce nearly kept the Wizards season alive with an incredible corner three-point attempt, that did actually, somehow go in. It was, however, waved off, and the Atlanta Hawks left the game with a win that sent them onto the Eastern Conference Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, where they would ultimately end their season after being swept.

This season-ending shot especially left Pierce with a bad taste in his mouth. After the game, Pierce was saying things that many took as him debating retirement.

This would be a huge loss for the Wizards, and there’s many reasons they need Pierce around for next year. Here’s five big reasons they really need him to stay.