“Irritates the Living Hell Out of Me”: Weeks After Disrobing ESPN ‘Secrets’, ‘Drunk’ Celtics Legends’ Distasteful Antics Finally Enrages Ex-Colleague

Paul Pierce was one of the best scorers of his time. The 10x All-Star won a championship for the Boston Celtics and is among the greatest players that ever played for the Green. Kevin Garnett, an essential part of the 2008 championship roster alongside Pierce has also left deep imprints in the game. Having retired from the game in 2017, Pierce once again found the spotlight, however, not for the best of reasons.

Pierce appeared in Kevin Garnett’s show Ticket & the Truth for covering the live stream of NBA Finals Game 3 between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets and appeared to be intoxicated. Additionally, Pierce’s antics received hilarious responses on social media, but his former colleague in Garnett seemed highly annoyed by his behavior

Paul Pierce’s conduct irks his former colleague

Appearing on former Minnesota Timberwolves‘ great Kevin Garnett’s show, Paul Pierce seemed to be inebriated and was blurting out hardly decipherable sentences. He told Garnett that he had hired a girlfriend for a day, and when asked about analysis of the game at hand, Pierce failed to make much sense. It went so far that KG had to ask him to “chill”.

Stephen A. Smith and Paul Pierce worked together for around four years at ESPN. When the ESPN analyst saw this behavior, he was appalled. He started by acknowledging Pierce’s game, but the behavior of the elite shot-creator didn’t sit well with Smith.

Previously, Pierce joined ESPN as an analyst in 2017 but was eventually fired in 2021. This firing came after his controversial Instagram live stream on April 2, 2021. In the stream, he was seen alongside strippers and smoking a blunt. This prompted stern action from the network and the dissolution of their partnership.

Stephen A. Smith began by pointing out Pierce’s behavior on the “I Am Athlete” podcast, where he joined NFL greats Brandon Marshall, LeSean McCoy, and DeSean Jackson. Calling ESPN’s firing unjust, Pierce had stated, “I didn’t do anything illegal. But at the end of the day, it’s Disney. So, they have a moral clause, and they said it wasn’t moral.” While listening to this, Marshall, McCoy, and Jackson could be seen laughing.

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After watching this, Smith reacted, “That’s the bull**** that irritates the living out of me.” Then he returned his focus to Pierce and stated, ” You are a champion, bro. No, you didn’t break any laws. It’s not about any laws, the private sector has their own laws. There are certain things you can’t do in the NBA. You know that. You didn’t live stream stuff like that when you were in the NBA”

Keeping the “law angle” as the center, the analyst then brought up the Ja Morant case. He said,” What kind of advice would you give to Ja Morant? The whole gun-toting thing didn’t break any law. He didn’t break any law but he did break the rules and laws of the NBA, which is why a suspension is pending. What advice are you in a position to give him?’’

Lauding Kevin Garnett for his work and not holding him responsible for Pierce’s behavior on his pod, Smith acknowledged Pierce’s basketball brain but questioned what kind of image of he wanted to build. It seems like the carefree attitude of The Truth hasn’t changed since his firing from ESPN. Pierce had acknowledged that the Instagram incident in 2021 embarrassed him because his daughter saw him in that state too.

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