Paul Pierce is always good for a scorching hot take when it comes to LeBron James.
And after the Lakers lost to the Trail Blazers on Tuesday night, you just knew he’d be coming with another one on Wednesday.
And, right on cue, that’s exactly what he did. In an appearance on First Take on Wednesday, Paul Pierce said that if James and the Lakers lose to the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round. he can no longer be considered in the conversation about the greatest players of all-time.
He already doesn’t consider James a top 5 player ever. A first round loss would cement that, he said.
Paul Pierce says LeBron is disqualified from the GOAT debate if he loses in the first round
"I’ve already said he’s not a top five player of all time."
(🎥 ESPN First Take) pic.twitter.com/4MnUGshnLS
— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) August 19, 2020
“I’ve already said he’s not a top 5 player of all-time. If the Lakers don’t win a championship, let alone lose in the first round, I don’t want to hear none of this GOAT talk no more.”
So that’s that on that for Paul Pierce. But it’s not really something we should take seriously from him.
Paul Pierce doesn’t like LeBron James. That’s a known fact. His former teammate Kendrick Perkins has admitted it. This is all personal for him.
How do we know? All we have to do is look at his GOAT list. He considers Michael Jordan to be the greatest basketball player of all-time, which is a good and fine take.
But Michael Jordan has lost in the first round of the playoffs — three times in fact. Yet, none of that has disqualified him from being the greatest player ever? Make it make sense.
It doesn’t. It turns out that this is just Paul Pierce, once again, hating on James. Nothing to see here.