Paul Pierce had a great 19-year career in the NBA, leading the Boston Celtics to the 2007-08 NBA title. He was named NBA Finals MVP, in addition to being named to ten All-Star Teams and four All-NBA Teams. ‘The Truth’ was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
While he was rightfully named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, it is difficult to make the case that Pierce – who never won an NBA MVP award or made an All-NBA First Team – is the greatest player of all-time. One NBA player disagrees, however, according to an anonymous poll conducted by The Athletic. The long-time Celtic tied with Magic Johnson and Steph Curry with the fourth-most votes in the poll. He trailed only Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.
Pierce suggested that the vote may have came from LeBron, who he shared a lengthy on-court rivalry with during his playing days. Speaking on UNDISPUTED, he stated:
What if LBJ voted for me? I did play against him. He must think something. What do you think about that? We had a lot of battles. Come on now, we had some tough battles. It could’ve been LB! You never know. It might’ve been LBJ. It didn’t have to be somebody from the Celtics.
Pierce joked that it’s not only about what you do on the court that makes you the greatest of all-time. He added that if he had better teammates in his prime, he would have won five or six titles. The ten-time All-Star averaged 19.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.6 blocks per game while shooting 44.5% from the field, 36.8% from three-point range and 80.6% from the free-throw line.
Check out Paul Pierce’s full comments on receiving a vote as the GOAT below:
Could Paul Pierce’s vote for the GOAT came from LeBron James?
Paul Pierce and LeBron James had several memorable playoff battles during the 2000s and 2010s. The former’s Boston Celtics and the latter’s Cleveland Cavaliers met in the postseason in both 2007-08 and 2009-10 – with Boston winning in seven and six games, respectively. The latter series was LeBron’s last with the Cavaliers before joining the Miami Heat.
The two would clash again in 2010-11 and 2011-12 – with Miami winning in five and seven games, respectively. In 2013-14 – Pierce’s lone season with the Brooklyn Nets and James’ last season before returning to Cleveland – they met for the fifth and final time with the Heat needing just five games to advance.
Despite their battles, it is unlikely that LeBron voted Pierce as the greatest of all-time. The ten-time All-Star has been very critical of him since retiring from the league. Furthermore, the Los Angeles Lakers star has stated that he believes he is the greatest player of all-time. If he did not vote for himself, he likely would have given his vote – assuming he participated in the poll – to Michael Jordan, who he famously labeled as ‘Black Jesus’.
Instead, it is likely that the vote came from someone who either idolized Pierce growing up. The alternative is that there was a player attempting to set the former Celtics star up for backlash.
