“Museum Was Closed Off”: Paul Pierce Recalls Meeting Barack Obama For the First Time

Paul Pierce was in basketball paradise following the 2007-08 season. The 10-time All-Star had just led the Boston Celtics to an NBA championship while winning Finals MVP. Interestingly, the Celtics legend claims that was not the highlight of the season for him because not long after he lifted the NBA championship, Pierce bumped into former POTUS,  Barack Obama.

The Celtics were certainly a topic of conversation in 2008. However, they didn’t come close to reaching the level of fame Barack Obama did by becoming the first black president in the history of the United States.

Luckily for Pierce and the Celtics, the NBA and the White House had a tradition for the championship team to visit the nation’s capital. As one would imagine, Pierce was excited to meet the president. However, Celtics head coach Doc Rivers had other plans.

Rivers planned for the team to have an outing at the Museum of Fine Arts. It confused the Celtics roster and they wondered why Rivers would plan a team bonding meeting at a museum of all places.

“We went to the museum as a team, and we’re thinking, ‘What’re we going to a museum for?'” Pierce said on the White Noise Podcast.

Just moments later, everything would make sense.

“The museum was closed off. We hit the corner, and Obama is right there. We’re like, ‘Oh, damn.’ We had a meet and greet with Obama in an empty museum in Boston. We all took flicks, and I thought that was dope.” Pierce said.

That encounter remains one of Pierce’s favorite, but it isn’t the only celebrity meet and greet he holds dear to his heart.

Pierce’s first All-Star game holds sentimental value for obvious reasons. However, for the former NBA champion, it was also the day he met his favorite actor, Denzel Washington.

“Denzel was like, ‘Hey, Pierce, come here.’ I was like, ‘You talking to me?’ I took a picture with Denzel. He was courtside while I was in the layup line. He was the top for me for actors at the time,” Pierce revealed.

Later in life, Pierce also had the privilege to meet the late-great Muhammad Ali, and Grammy award-winning artist Jay-Z.

It isn’t shocking that NBA stars tend to have close relationships with other celebrities in the entertainment business. Stephen Curry is known to be friends with the Canadian musician Drake, Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Hart get along well, as do Michael Jordan and Will Smith. It’s not a trend that’s going to stop anytime soon.