At times, Paul Pierce has taken heat for his takes on the NBA most notably when he argued that he had a better career than 3x NBA champion Dwayne Wade.
Pierce is taking hits again from hoop fans after he name-dropped his top 5 omitting The King.
Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant made Pierce’s top 5. Although Bill Russell is an 11-time champion, Pierce may be showing some favoritism for his fellow Boston Celtics legend.
”He took a different route than all the guys I named,” Pierce argued on the virtual call with other ESPN commentators. “ When you go searching out and they don’t come to you…” Pierce said referring to LeBron leaving Cleveland for Miami in 2011.
Pierce seems to have based his list at least partially on team loyalty with his top 5 filled with stars who committed to one team for most of their career.
Paul Pierce and the Boston Big 3 was part of the reason LeBron left Cleveland in the first place after dominated the Eastern Conference in 2008 and 2010.
Once LeBron made his move to Miami, The HEAT owned the Eastern Conference as an aging Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett fell to father time.