Paul Pierce recently hopped on a conversation with Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green on his podcast The Draymond Green Show to talk basketball. Pierce spoke on various topics, reflecting on his 19-season NBA career. While talking about how the OGs of his day opened many doors for younger players, he hailed his Boston Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett for starting the trend that Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Dwight Howard would later follow.
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Garnett was drafted as the fifth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1995 NBA draft. A former McDonald’s All-American MVP, KG became the first player to be drafted straight out of high school since 1975. After Garnett, many other players, like Kobe Bryant and even LeBron James, joined the league straight after high school, skipping a potential college career before entering the NBA.
Paul Pierce believes Kevin Garnett should be hailed for paving the pathway for future NBA stars, who are now considered the sport’s legends. Pierce and Garnett were from the same recruitment class during high school. However, the former decided to spend the next three years playing college basketball at Kansas between 1995 and 1998. On the other hand, Garnett declared for the NBA draft immediately, thus upsetting all of the potential universities looking to take him onboard for their basketball programs.
On Green’s podcast, Pierce said on that note, “KG started the high school [trend], and then the one-and-done was started. I think my class was responsible for a lot of that, you know, moving forward with the high school guys coming at because if it wasn’t, we wouldn’t have guys like Kobe, LeBron, T-Mac, Dwight. KG really kicked the door in for that.”
Pierce added that nobody ever thought that going to the NBA straight from high school was even possible before KG did it. The Big Ticket’s success in his stint encouraged the next generation to follow a similar path.
The Truth, on the other hand, spent three years at the University of Kansas playing college basketball. He spent around three years trying to figure out his way in basketball before declaring for the 1998 NBA draft. Eventually, Pierce was selected as the 10th overall pick by the Boston Celtics in 1998, in the same draft class as his fellow legendary colleagues Vince Carter and Dirk Nowitzki.
Paul Pierce had a steady trajectory of improvement during his college years
Paul Pierce had a steady trajectory of improvement throughout his college career. As part of Kansas’ college basketball team, Pierce earned an honorable mention in the All-Big Eight honors. He was selected as the second team Freshman All-American by Basketball Weekly. He spent his time trying to figure out his style of play rather than rushing into the NBA before he felt ready for the league.
Furthermore, Pierce captured the first two Big 12 Conference tournament MVP awards during his sophomore year while averaging 21.7 points for Kansas in the inaugural tournament championship. Pierce left the University of Kansas following his junior season to declare himself eligible for the NBA. He entered the 1998 NBA draft after being the fifth-leading scorer in Kansas history and the 11th on the all-time rebounds list.
