Drafted in 1998, Paul Pierce played in the NBA for 19 seasons till 2017. 15 out of those 19 seasons were spent in Boston. Pierce is a 10x All-Star who led the Boston Celtics to a championship over Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in 2008.
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Playing in the East with LeBron James, the two locked horns many times. In fact, they faced each other 69 times during their career. Pierce held the advantage in the regular season, winning 21 games to LeBron’s 18. However, in the playoffs, the King held a 17-13 winning record over the Truth.
There has always been the narrative that Paul Pierce wasn’t too fond of LBJ, and his statements post-retirement did nothing to curb the same. He even quoted ‘talking about LeBron too much’ as a reason for leaving ESPN last year.
However, Pierce’s former teammate Antoine Walker believes the 10x All-Star doesn’t hate LeBron.
Antoine Walker shares how Paul Pierce believed LeBron James wasn’t too much better than him
Talking in an interview, Antoine Walker shared how Paul Pierce did not like the media plotting LeBron way above him in the conversations. In a conversation with Heavy Walker said,
“Me knowing Paul’s competitive drive, Paul doesn’t believe LeBron’s that much better than him. And I do believe that… I think sometimes with Paul, the way it comes out on TV, it seems that way because I remember him commenting about [Dwyane] Wade and people got mad because of what Paul said about D-Wade. Paul believes that he’s in that category.”
“For whatever reason, he doesn’t get that notoriety that those guys get. He’s not celebrated like those guys. He is that guy.”
Paul Pierce sometimes loses out on his flowers because the 2008 Celtics team had players like Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. However, it was Pierce who was the Finals MVP, and it was him who edged out LeBron James and the Cavs in Game 7 with his 41-point performance.
Pierce has had conflicting views about LeBron James
Over the years, Paul Pierce has shared a lot of different views about LeBron James. From explaining why he isn’t Top 5,
to calling what he did ‘GOAT Sh*t’, Pierce has gone a full 360.
LB defying Father Time #Goatshit
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) December 31, 2022
He once explained his beef with Bron on ESPN.
It all started with a preseason fight over bench players, and evolved into a whole career of locking horns.