Paul Pierce takes pride in the fact that he’s universally known as one of the game’s best scorers, and it’s gotten him into trouble at times. There was once when he said he was better than Dwyane Wade, which he still believes. Now, when comparing himself to Kevin Durant, he recently claimed he was the NBA’s best pure scorer of all time.
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Obviously, Pierce has been getting some hate for his take. “Not a top 10 anything,” said one X user while another piggybacked on this sentiment, saying, “PP very good but not great.”
In all fairness to detractors, he’s 18th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. So, one could surmise that there were better scorers than him all-time, 17 to be exact.
Just to set the record straight, here’s exactly what Pierce claimed this past week.
“Shoot, you gotta put me in that talk when we talk about most equipped scorers, man… I was probably the best pure scorer ever in the history of the game,” Pierce stated on Speak.
Needless to say, the comments underneath the video weren’t too nice to Pierce. Some fans claimed he was nowhere near Durant’s level. Others said he’s not on anyone’s mind when it comes to the best scorers all-time. They made sure to hammer home the idea that Pierce was not the best pure scorer ever.
That’s why Pierce’s friend and longtime teammate Kevin Garnett decided to butt in with some support.
“P was cold asf… mmmm care what y’all saying… ONE OF THE BEST TO DO IT… frfr… @paulpierce,” KG posted on his Instagram Story.
KG on IG pic.twitter.com/9hWzAWe8qn
— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) July 11, 2025
KG wrote the message over a reel that showcased Pierce in the center of one of the greatest comebacks in NBA history. Down 22 against the New Jersey Nets, he scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to help erase the deficit and win the game. It’s still the largest 4th quarter playoff comeback ever.
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There was a reason why Pierce had ‘The Truth’ nickname bestowed upon him by the Shaquille O’Neal. It’s because he was indeed, the absolute truth, when it came to scoring. He could succeed at all 3 levels of the court and had a clutch gene that made him a fan favorite in Boston. In fact, Pierce is the franchise’s second all-time leading scorer, and even scored more points for the Celtics than Larry Bird.
However, Pierce also has a somewhat inflated sense of how great he truly was. He may have been neck and neck with someone of Wade’s caliber in terms of pure bucket-getting. But, his defense and overall production were nowhere near his level.
Additionally, he was one of the best pure scorers of his era, but he was not THE best pure scorer of his era. This is proven by both the eye test and analytics. Though, for someone in Pierce’s echelon of basketball legends, it makes sense as to why he believes himself to be the best.
