The Brooklyn Nets are reportedly interested to re-sign veteran small forward Paul Pierce, when he becomes a free-agent this coming summer, general manager Billy King confirmed it in an interview on the "Joe and Evan" show on CBS Radio New York on Wednesday.

The Nets GM manager was vocal in his intention to lock in Pierce for the remainder of his basketball career. Brooklyn also expressed their interest in re-signing Shaun Livingston, but the Nets would have an easier time re-signing Pierce because of his bird-rights.

"King said on the "Joe and Evan" show on CBS Radio New York today that the team wants to keep Pierce, but he pointed to Pierce's Bird rights as an advantage that will make it easier to re-sign him than to bring back Livingston, with whom the Nets have only non-Bird rights," Tim Bontemps of the New York Post via Hoops Rumors.

Several NBA insiders believed the Nets have to provide an enticing offer for Peirce to re-sign with the ballclub. The Boston Celtics are expected to make a bid in re-acquiring the veteran swingman, after they traded him to the Nets along with Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry last offseason.

"Pierce recently expressed a willingness to return to the Celtics, with whom he spent his entire career until the trade that brought him to Brooklyn last summer, and Boston's second all-time leading scorer has admitted that he never wanted to leave," Hoops Rumors stated.

However, it remains uncertain if the Celtics are capable of signing Pierce this offseason because Rajon Rondo is set to become a free-agent a year after. In short, the former Celtics captain has to take a paycut for him to be back in Beantown.

"The 36-year-old Pierce remains a productive player this season, averaging 13.6 points on 9.7 shots per game with a 16.4 PER. Pierce might have to take a discount to play with Boston, while the Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has shown a willingness to spend whatever necessary to build his team," via Hoops Rumors.