I'm disappointed in Jackie. It's not like her to speculate at all. She usually spits nothing but hard facts, however clearly not the case here. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt that she has some insider info.
Well, she seems to speculate a lot concerning the Big 3. I've heard her repeatedly say that she thinks this is KG's last season because he had a sense of nostalgia during all-star weekend last year. She also repeatedly said that earlier in the year that she didn't think Pierce was healthy. Didn't she speculate about his achilles being the problem?
I think it is Pierce's heel, which I've heard from others too, but I've never heard it be his Achilles which would be very serious. He's still effective, but his shooting percentages are down across the board and he wasn't right when he came back. I don't know about KG retiring, especially since he's playing at a very high level at the 5, but some players like to leave before they have to.
I see no reason Ray can't return from ankle surgery. He's a very driven personality too and he can make his 3-point record very difficult to top for many years if he does return.