A now-retired Paul Pierce had some lasting words for Kevin Durant and his season-long scrutinized decision to join the Golden State Warriors last offseason.
Despite having played for three different teams after being traded by the Boston Celtics, The Truth had plenty of criticism to dish out, asserting that guys of his era would never do what Durant did and jump ship after a sour loss like he endured in last year's Western Conference Finals.
The 19-year pro, now a frequent guest panelist on ESPN's The Jump with Rachel Nichols, brought up the analogy of joining a gang after being beat up by said gang.
“I'm just not built like that. I'm not a guy who goes into the neighborhood, gets beat up by the bully's gang and then now I want to join your gang,” said Pierce to the smirk of his co-panelist Scottie Pippen. “That's just not me. I wanna fight, let's go! I'm gonna stand up for myself.”
“It's just the competitive nature of where I come from and the era I grew up in.”
Paul Pierce compares Kevin Durant joining Warriors to a kid becoming friends with his bullies to avoid getting beat up. pic.twitter.com/00U8c5sTW0
— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) May 30, 2017
Whether the criticism is fair or not is up for debate, but Pierce has maintained the image of loyalty for most of his career, as reflected by his disdain for Ray Allen along with the rest of the 2008 Celtics championship team.
A lot of this criticism can continue in the form of mockery if Durant doesn't come out a champion at the end of these NBA Finals, but it will likely haunt him for the following years unless he goes on to win even more — with the asterisk of what would have happened if he stayed with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
As usual when it comes to all things sports — winning cures even the worst of diseases.
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