Boston Celtics legend and ESPN analyst Paul Pierce made waves this week when he declared that LeBron James isn't a top-five player of all time. Many people quickly assumed Pierce still holds a grudge against LeBron, and former Celtics teammate Kendrick Perkins revealed the origin of the beef goes all the way back to 2004.
Perkins said Pierce was talking trash to the Cavs' bench during a preseason game at Ohio State in Columbus and wound up spitting at them, a sign of “ultimate disrespect.” Pierce has now confirmed this telling of the events:
“I'm glad social media wasn't out then because I spit at they bench. I probably would've got fined,” Pierce said.
“Me and LeBron going back and forth, bench is yelling at something and I look over to the bench and I'm like, ‘That's why y'all on the bench' and I spit at them. I'm not sure if it hit somebody or not, but I spit in that direction. Tempers flared. Next thing you know it's in the hallway and it's about to go down.”
"I'm glad social media wasn't out then because I spit at they bench. I probably would've got fined." @paulpierce34 confirms @KendrickPerkins' story that him spitting toward the Cavs bench started his beef with LeBron. pic.twitter.com/k1DbLKhcQq
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 22, 2020
Pierce and LeBron almost came to blows in the hallway, and the former Celtics forward actually did get fined $15,000 for his actions. That was the start of an intense rivalry, with Pierce's Celtics ultimately beating LeBron's Cavs twice in the playoffs before The King's move to the Miami Heat. In Miami, James beat Pierce's Celtics twice, including in the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals.
There's clearly still some bad blood here, and we'll see if Pierce winds up changing his tune on LeBron's place in NBA history down the road once his career is over. The Los Angeles Lakers star still has a chance to improve his legacy, and he's hoping to get an opportunity to do that later this summer as part of a potential season restart.
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