On the NBA’s opening night, you may have seen Kevin Garnett snub his former teammate Ray Allen, who left the Celtics for the Heat over the summer.
Before tipoff, Allen went over to the Celtics bench, seemingly to shake hands with or high five Garnett, who was sitting, but Garnett completely ignored him.
Apparently, as the article I linked to above informs us, “Allen hasn’t spoken with Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo or Paul Pierce since joining the Miami Heat in the offseason.”
To me, this all shows shortsightedness on Allen’s part.
I don’t see how you choose to leave a team and not say a single word to your ex-teammates, the guys you fought alongside for five years.
Maybe Allen figured he was never going to be friends with these guys again, so there wasn’t any point in saying goodbye.
The problem is, he was destined to cross paths with them again, like he did Tuesday night, and as he will at every Celtics-Heat game going forward. Allen could have and should have prevented these encounters from being awkward by making a more “graceful exit” from Boston.
There’s a lesson here: When you leave a job or organization or anything of the sort - no matter how glad you are to be getting away, no matter how much you dislike the people you’re leaving - you should always try your best to leave on good terms.
Because life can take some unexpected turns, and you never know when you’re going to cross paths with someone again.
Don’t put yourself in a position to get snubbed, as Ray Allen did.
Leave allies behind, instead of adversaries.
