Kendrick Perkins could spend final season in Boston

In 2008, Danny Ainge added veteran power forward P.J. Brown to back up Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins on that Celtics championship team. Over a decade later, Perkins could be back in Boston to return the favor.

In town to honor former teammate Paul Pierce at The 17th Annual Tradition gala at The Sports Museum, Perkins told NBC Sports Boston’s A. Sherrod Blakely that he’s reached out to Danny Ainge about a possible comeback to the Celtics. Before you get visions of #5 protecting the paint in The Garden again, his return to the floor sounds more ceremonial than a late season addition that could push the Celtics over the hump.

Perk mentioned returning in January on a 10-day contract in what would be his 15th and final season in the NBA. It would be a perfect ending for the big kid from Beaumont, TX. After being drafted in 2003, Perkins played the bulk of his career with the Celtics, including two trips to The Finals. To Perkins, Boston will always be home after eight seasons in green:

“This is home away from home,” Perkins said. “This is where it all started at. Every time I come back to Boston, I just feel … great; it’s sunshine, basically.

Perkins added, “It meant everything. You’re playing for one of the great sports towns, period. Playing for one of the best basketball organizations in the NBA. At (that) moment I was in my 20’s just playing basketball and not really soaking it in and embracing the moment. Now as I got older, I’m like, ‘damn, I was really on the Celtics.’ Even when I was on the Cavs and came in to play the playoffs, I was like, ‘Man, this was home; this is how it used to be. You don’t find this nowhere else.’”

After Kyrie Irving extolled the virtues of adding a vet to the locker room and Marcus Smart motivated his teammates to return to the gritty identity of previous teams, bringing in Perkins makes a lot of sense, even if it is just on a mentorship level.