Ray Allen left Celtics for Heat despite no-trade clause offer, report says

Ray Allen reportedly signed with the Heat despite an much more enticing offer from the Celtics. (Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images) Ray Allen left the Boston Celtics

Ray Allen reportedly signed with the Heat despite an much more enticing offer from the Celtics. (Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images)

Ray Allen left the Boston Celtics to sign with the Miami Heat in the offseason despite an offer of a no-trade clause and twice as much money to stay in Boston, Celtics GM Danny Ainge told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan on Thursday.

Ainge said that he realized that constant trade rumors involving Allen had been disconcerting for the former Celtics guard, so he added a no-trade clause on top of a two-year, $12 million offer.

"I knew the (trade rumors) had been weighing on him," Ainge told MacMullan.

Despite the no-trade clause, Allen left the Celtics to join LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh with the Heat for a two-year, $6 million deal.

Part of the reason Allen also signed with the Heat was a reported "rift" with some members of the Celtics organization, most notably star point guard Rajon Rondo.

Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reported in July of several issues that drove Allen away from the Celtics. Allen did become annoyed at the Celtics involving him in trade talks, and he was irritated that he did not get his starting job back after returning from an ankle injury late in the season.

But most significantly, his relationship with Rondo had crumbled in the past year.

For all the past indignities – real or imagined – Rondo was the issue that hadn’t gone away, that would still be there come training camp. They don’t like each other, and it had become a bigger and bigger drag on Allen, sources said. Each had culpability for why things had gone awry, and yet each was better on the court because he had played with the other. [...] “When it comes to basketball, Rondo is the smartest player on the team – one of the smartest players in the league,” one locker-room source said. “And Ray considers himself a smart guy. But at some point, it became hard for Ray to be corrected by a guy so much younger than him.”