It looks like Paul Pierce might be hinting that he could remain with the Washington Wizards next year as well.

The forward recently completed his 17th season in the NBA, helping the Wizards reach the second round of the playoffs before eventually bowing out to the Atlanta Hawks.

And at 37 years old, there has been a significant decline in Pierce's game – he averaged only 11.9 points per game in the regular season, the lowest in his entire career.

He also averaged the least number of minutes per game since his arrival in the league, locking in only around 26 minutes a night – a far cry from even his rookie season when he averaged 34 minutes per game.

However, his impact and importance were clearly still there. Despite slowing down a step or two, Pierce's killer instinct was still prevalent and on full display during the playoffs.

In 10 games this post-season, Pierce averaged 14.6 points while only playing around 29 minutes per contest.

He was also seen regularly making clutch baskets to win the game, eventually even making a jumper to possibly extend their season against the Hawks before the review showed that he did not let go of the ball in time.

But that's his nature, and he now seems to have unfinished business with Washington.

Talking to Mad Dog Sports Radio, Pierce was asked what the future held for him, to which he simply replied, "Man, it was a good run. We really have a really good young team, and a couple budding superstars. It was tough. It especially really hurt us when John [Wall] broke his hand. Even though he came back, that really kind of hurt our rhythm, because we [were] playing so well. We felt like we were the better team if we had stayed healthy, but we lost some heartbreaking games.

"You know how the playoffs are," he went on. "Every game is close, and it all came down to the end, but I'm happy with the way guys fought. Nobody expected us to beat the Raptors. I thought we were better than Atlanta. We fell up short, but I really like our team, I really like the young budding stars. And we're definitely disappointed, and would have gave Cleveland probably a better challenge than Atlanta, I think, but it was tough."

Those words alone can be perceived to be coming from a man who still believes that he is part of a group, which has so much more to offer.

For Washington, this should be a good thing. Maybe Pierce has lost his step, but he clearly hasn't lost his competitive drive.