Hall-of-Fame forward Paul Pierce recently crowned himself the best pure scorer the league has ever seen, and he isn’t backing down from that stance. The 2008 NBA Finals MVP’s comments sent the internet into a frenzy. Despite the backlash he received, his opinion hasn’t changed.
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Pierce’s initial comments came in response to LeBron James and Kevin Durant’s discussion on James’ Mind the Game podcast. When LeBron called KD the “most equipped” scorer in NBA history, Pierce felt slighted.
“I was probably the best pure scorer ever in the history of the NBA,” Pierce said on FS1’s Speak. “I was pretty equipped when I think about it. I need to be in this conversation.”
Although fans couldn’t see eye-to-eye with Pierce on this claim, Durant didn’t have much of an issue. Under Pierce’s comments on the Instagram post, he said, “I didn’t really see a weakness in Paul’s game. I understand where his confidence comes from.”
Durant played against Pierce while the Boston Celtics legend was at the peak of his powers. Pierce averaged 19.7 points per game throughout his career, which includes his last four seasons when he was a shell of himself.
Durant’s approval certainly boosted Pierce’s confidence but didn’t change his view in the slightest. In fact, Pierce upped his angle, saying, “You can take all the great scorers in NBA history, I can do everything they can do scoring-wise.”
Pierce then added more fuel to the fire by comparing himself to a legendary player and slighting Durant at the same time. “I’m a better three-point shooter than Jordan. One thing I got better than KD, I was a better post-up player,” Pierce declared.
It seems like blasphemy to mention Pierce in the same breath as Michael Jordan, but he has a point. The Chicago Bulls legend only made 581 three-pointers in his career, while attempting 1,778. Pierce made more three-pointers in his career than Jordan even attempted, connecting on 2,143.
It’s not just an opinion but a fact that Pierce was one of the most complete scorers in NBA history, and players like Durant are on record supporting that. Pierce didn’t achieve what he did throughout his career with subpar confidence. It makes sense why he views himself as he does.
