The debate centering the moral responsibility of athletes to conduct themselves in a certain way has been a hotbed of discussions after Ja Morant attracted waves of backlash recently for flashing a gun on Instagram live. The act was deemed immoral by most NBA talking heads, albeit not illegal, especially in a country ravaged by gun violence. Paul Pierce had triggered a similar debate after ESPN fired him for partying with a group of women on Instagram live. Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics legend has once again taken the NBA community by surprise by pulling a similar act during Kevin Garnett‘s livestream show on Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
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The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 109-94 on the road to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals. However, viewers who had tuned in to watch the KG Certified show on Showtime Basketball’s YouTube channel were in for a surprise. They could barely concentrate on the game as an intoxicated Paul Pierce soon stole the show.
Drunk Paul Pierce takes over Kevin Garnett’s NBA Finals livestream
The 2008 NBA Champions Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett were supposed walk fans through the live action of Game 3 of the NBA Finals. But the show soon went off the rails after Pierce appeared to be intoxicated during the broadcast. In fact, during the show, KG was seen trying his best to contain his fellow Celtics veteran in order to avoid any backlash.
At one point in the show, Pierce pointed to the woman sitting beside him and said, “This is my girlfriend for the day. They got a website that you can hire girlfriends for the day. So I got a girlfriend.”
Paul Pierce lit asf watching the Heat vs Nuggets Game 3 #paulpierce #thetruth #NBA #nbaplayoffs #nbafinals #nbafinals2023 #nuggets #heatvsnuggets #paulpiercelive #paulpiercedrunk #drunklivestream #sports pic.twitter.com/5fTFlSTLFN
— Sports City (@sportscitymix) June 8, 2023
Meanwhile, Garnett seemed uncomfortable by the whole situation as Pierce awkwardly proceeded to kiss his ‘girlfriend’. KG could only say, “We don’t give parental guidance on livestreams“, to deter his fellow Celtics legend from his antics. However, the whole show ended up being an awkward yet entertaining mess of a production.
Pierce talked about his termination from ESPN
Earlier this year, Pierce addressed his termination from ESPN on the I Am Athlete Podcast. The 10-time All-Star claimed that he had done nothing wrong on paper.
Paul Pierce recounts being fired from ESPN on his day off:
“I got fired for having some entertainment. What did I do wrong?” 🤷🏾♂️
Subscribe & watch a dope convo w/ The Truth, @PaulPierce34 📺 → https://t.co/tNyj1hoL2N pic.twitter.com/DD9O0YHRB9
— I AM ATHLETE (@IAMATHLETEpod) April 10, 2023
However, his fellow panelists pointed out that partying with exotic dancers might not be the kind of representation ESPN expects from its employees. In the end, Pierce conceded the ethics question, pointing out that ESPN is majority-owned by Disney and they have ethics clauses in their contracts.
However, the 2008 NBA Finals MVP didn’t seem remorseful at all for his actions. Therefore, his recent misadventure comes off as no surprise to fans.
