With no NBA games being played since March, the entire basketball news cycle has been reduced to discussing potential restart plans, The Last Dance and cross-generational NBA rankings.
But leave it to Paul Pierce to cause a stir with his own NBA list.
While appearing on ESPN, Pierce listed off his top-5 NBA players — because what else are we supposed to do? — and surprisingly left LeBron James off completely. Now, Pierce wouldn’t be the first high-profile basketball personality to snub LeBron. Charles Barkley also doesn’t think LeBron deserves top-5 consideration.
Yet, in Pierce’s case, there was a personal driving force behind the snub, and his former Celtics teammate Kendrick Perkins explained in his own ESPN appearance on Wednesday.
Kendrick Perkins says Paul Pierce’s all-time list is ‘personal’ and his beef with LeBron started in LeBron’s rookie year
"Paul is talking noise to the bench…He's talking big noise to the Cavs bench…Paul actually spits over there at the bench.” 😯
(🎥 ESPN) pic.twitter.com/FmNBw1JVxz
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) May 21, 2020
Perkins said:
“Here’s the thing: Paul Pierce’s list is personal. Right? Because we don’t talk about this enough, but Paul and ‘Bron have never liked each other since ‘Bron rookie year. Here’s the backstory to this real quick, and then you can understand why LeBron is not on Paul’s list.
“We’re playing in Columbus, Ohio, my rookie season against the Cleveland Cavaliers, right? You know when LeBron was coming into the league, he was getting a lot of heat from players. … So, his first preseason game was against Paul Pierce. So, Paul is talking noise to the bench, right? He’s talking big noise to the Cavs bench, and they’re sitting over there — ‘Bron and them, they’re all sitting over there, Drew Gooden and everybody. So, Paul actually spits over there at the bench. Right?! The ultimate disrespect. It ended up turning up.
“After the game, both teams were meeting in the back. Guys was ready to fight. We had to hold people back. Like, it went up from there. Ever since that moment, LeBron James and Paul Pierce hate each other. They don’t speak to each other. Even now and today.”
Perkins went on to point out a recent example of LeBron with the Lakers snubbing Pierce at a courtside ESPN shoot. It might really be personal for Pierce. But really — at least from Perkins’ story — it sounds like Pierce started the whole beef by spitting at the Cavs bench.
Pierce shouldn’t hold LeBron getting offended by that against LeBron all these years later.
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