Paul Pierce won an NBA title and the NBA Finals MVP award and was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. The 10x All-Star was iconic as a player, and now he’s forging his second career as a professional hot-take artist.
While appearing on FS1’s “Speak,” a sports hot-taking television show, he said that only one thing is holding Lamar Jackson back from being the face of the entire National Football League.
It’s that he plays in the city of Baltimore.
Paul Pierce says that Lamar Jackson will never be the face of the league as long as he plays in Baltimore. Lolpic.twitter.com/Y5VVx0FKyG
— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) September 4, 2024
“I think for him to be the face of the league, he’s gotta get out of Baltimore,” Pierce said.
“Think about this: if Lamar was on Dallas right now, same accolades, he’d be the face of the league.”
It’s an interesting hypothesis, but pretty much nobody considers Dak Prescott, the current Dallas Cowboys starting quarterback, to be the face of the NFL.
The same held for Tony Romo when he was the starting quarterback in Dallas. His celebrity power was boosted by dating Jessica Simpson (a relationship storyline precursor to the Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift coverage).
Pierce then said Jackson would be the face of the league if he were the San Francisco 49ers QB1.
“That market there, like, people don’t know a lot about Baltimore,” Pierce said.
“People don’t talk about Baltimore.”
Co-host Joy Taylor then pointed out how the current face of the league, Patrick Mahomes, plays for a smaller market club in Kansas City, Missouri.
Pierce responded that Mahomes is famous because the Chiefs have won Super Bowls.
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying,” Taylor said.
In agreeing with Taylor, Pierce basically
For what it’s worth, Baltimore placed 28th in the 2022-23 DMA rankings of media market size, and Kansas City came in 33rd.