A number of sources familiar with Celtics guard Tony Allen and associates in his hometown of Chicago claim that the troubles and death threats surrounding the player are serious.

A pair of Chicago sources linked a group of Allen's associates to a fatal shooting last August.

The group had been attending a birthday party for former Celtic Antoine Walker at the downtown club Excalibur when the incident occurred, ending in the death of a 25-year-old patron.

Sources also indicted that Allen's current troubles are somehow connected to the incident, and that the Boston guard allegedly has incurred a heavy financial debt to someone in Chicago that he now refuses to repay.