Club Shay Shay - Paul Pierce Part 1

Summary

Club Shay Shay – Paul Pierce Part 1 (October 15, 2025)

Overview

In this engaging episode of Club Shay Shay, host Shannon Sharpe sits down with NBA Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, famously known as "The Truth." The conversation dives deep into Pierce’s storied career, his perspective on basketball greatness, overcoming challenges, and personal stories from his youth. Both men keep the tone candid and authentic, blending insight with humor and hard-earned wisdom. This summary highlights the main themes, discussion points, notable quotes, and important timestamps for quick reference.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Basketball Greatness and Scoring Legacy

• Pierce’s Scorer Identity: Pierce revisits his often-controversial claim of being one of the NBA’s best "pure scorers."
  • Explains he meant that, removing pure athleticism, few match his skill diversity.
  • “Take Jordan's athleticism out where he can't just jump over you to score... my skill level is [elite].” (03:34, Paul Pierce)
• Comparison Era and Style: Talks about being overlooked among flashier contemporaries like Kobe Bryant, LeBron, and Kevin Durant. Pierce insists his all-around scoring—midrange, post, three-pointer—had no true weakness.
  • “You could say Curry—take his shooting ability away... What do you take away from me? Because I did it all.” (05:35, Paul Pierce)
• Pierce’s Three-Point Contest Win: Cites beating a young Steph Curry as proof of his versatility.
  • Sharpe: “Steph Curry was in the contest? That’s all I need to know.” (06:47)

2. Influence and Representation in Today’s NBA

• Compares his style to current players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler—emphasizing play below the rim and “no nonsense” mentality.
  • "We gravitate toward flashy... I never really got a lot of the credit, 'cause I wasn't that." (10:12, Paul Pierce)

3. Growing Up: Dreams, Adversity, and Gang Culture

• Childhood in Inglewood and Oakland: Pierce discusses early dreams of NBA stardom, shaped by community and limited role models.
• Navigating Gang Influence:
  • Pierce attributes his survival to his mother, right friends, and gang members who saw his potential and protected him.
    • “If anybody gonna make it out the hood, we gonna make sure you make it.” (21:36, Pierce)
• Early Struggles: Mentions being demoted to JV as a sophomore, gaining confidence when given an opportunity—a pivotal moment.
  • “When your window is there, you gotta seize it. That was my window.” (22:54, Pierce)
• Burning Down Childhood Home: As a kid, accidentally burned down his family home; humor and humility about the incident and its impact (24:00).

4. Education, Motivation, and Hard Work

• Singular Focus: Pierce describes pouring effort into basketball as his only path out, echoing Sharpe’s “Plan A” philosophy.
  • “If A don’t work... then I’ll think about B, but right now, it’s all A.” (15:26, Sharpe)
• Hard work vs. habit: Sharpe’s grandfather’s wisdom about not mistaking habits for hard work (16:00).

5. The NBA Journey: Draft, Money, and Rookie Lessons

• Draft Night & Early NBA Days: Fell to 10th in the draft, never worked out for the Celtics, recounts expectations vs. reality.
  • “...I was a Laker fan... as a black kid, we hated Boston.” (38:39, Pierce)
• Finances & First Million: Breaks down why NBA players often don’t “keep” their first million; taxes, agent fees, supporting family, and living expenses (39:53+).
• Advice on Finances: Discusses risks of spending, poor investments, and the importance of discipline, especially for players on smaller contracts.

6. Struggles, Recovery, and Staying Safe

• Stabbing Incident in Boston: Details the 2000 nightclub stabbing—mistakes made, lessons learned about moving differently, and importance of mentorship.
  • “I don’t have to go to the club... I ain’t even got my big deal. What am I doing right?” (53:44, Pierce)
  • Emphasizes need for young pros to seek veteran mentorship.

7. Locker Room & Women: Navigating Fame

• Discusses how personal choices and relationships can affect both personal safety and team chemistry.
• Warns young athletes about being careful with who they associate, especially in nightlife and dating scenes.

8. Life in Boston & Dealing with Expectations

• Racism in Boston: Pierce—contrary to popular perception—never experienced direct racism as a player, only love from local fans (60:06+).
• Celtics’ Culture: Support and mentoring from historic Celtics (Bill Russell, Red Auerbach, Cedric Maxwell, JoJo White) helped him endure losing years.

9. The Road to a Championship

• Early Frustrations: Pierce openly wondered if he’d ever win a title, especially after a foot injury and years of struggle with Boston.
• Formation of the "Big Three": Candid details about almost forcing a trade before Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett arrived, and how the new trio instantly built chemistry.
  • “All I ever wanted was just a chance... You look at great players—even LeBron needed Wade and Bosh.” (65:54-66:09, Pierce)
• Blending Egos: Credits Kevin Garnett’s selflessness and Doc Rivers’ leadership for smooth integration.

10. Super Teams & Historical Context

• Modern vs. Past Super Teams: Pierce and Sharpe note that "super teams" aren’t new, referencing the Lakers and Celtics dynasties, but point out the difference between management-made and player-made team-ups.
  • “You gotta have other great players to win.” (76:05, Pierce)

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Notable Quotes

• On Flash vs. Fundamentals:
  • Pierce: “I was more of a no nonsense player. And that’s why I throw Jimmy Butler in there.” (10:32)
• On Surviving Gang Culture:
  • Pierce: “I did have that... If anybody gonna make it out the hood, we gonna make sure you make it.” (21:36)
• On Lessons from Stabbing Incident:
  • Pierce: “I put myself in a situation to where I affected all these people that love me. And I was like, I can’t do that again.” (53:00)
• On Building the Big Three:
  • Pierce: “Kevin [Garnett] is the most selfless superstar ever in history. He came in and was just like, Paul, this is your team. I just here to help.” (69:47)
• On Past Super Teams:
  • Sharpe: “There have always been superteams. What the hell you think the 80s Lakers were? What do you think the 80s Celtics were? They were superteams.” (74:30)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:00–06:30: Pierce defends his position as a “pure scorer” and breaks down his offensive arsenal.
• 10:00–11:00: Discussion about flashiness vs. fundamentals and why Pierce was overlooked compared to flashier stars.
• 15:00–18:30: Pierce and Sharpe discuss growing up with “Plan A” mentality and the difference between habit and hard work.
• 21:15–22:10: Pierce on gang culture, how his community protected him as an aspiring athlete.
• 23:00–24:00: Pierce describes being moved up to varsity basketball—a turning point in his confidence.
• 24:00–25:50: The story of Pierce accidentally burning down his childhood home.
• 39:50–46:00: Breakdown of NBA finances and pitfalls that cause athletes to lose fortunes.
• 48:11–53:00: Recounts the club stabbing incident in Boston, its aftermath, and life lessons learned.
• 60:00–61:10: Pierce speaks on his personal experiences with racism—or the lack thereof—while in Boston.
• 63:07–67:17: Recounts the path to winning an NBA championship—and almost leaving Boston.
• 69:00–70:45: How Doc Rivers and Garnett fostered unselfishness and unity among the new Celtics "Big Three."
• 74:30–76:20: History of superteams in the NBA and changes in how they are built today.

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Memorable Moments

• Pierce gleefully reminding Sharpe (multiple times) that he beat “the greatest shooter ever,” Steph Curry, in a 3-point contest—even if Curry was a rookie. (07:09)
• Recounting how, as a kid, Pierce was called an “arsonist” for accidentally burning down his house—with relief "social media wasn’t around then!" (25:14)
• His candid recollection of nearly leaving Boston and almost forcing a trade—only for destiny to bring in Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, leading to a championship run. (65:35–66:09)
• The behind-the-scenes on how NBA locker rooms work—from rookie hazing to advice about not staying until “last call” at nightclubs (58:41).

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Conclusion

This first part of Paul Pierce’s Club Shay Shay conversation is packed with rich, honest stories and practical wisdom. Pierce remains unapologetically himself—reflecting on his career, legacy, and the off-court lessons that shaped him. The discussion serves as both a nostalgic look at a Hall-of-Famer’s journey and a cautionary tale for today’s young athletes.

For more, tune into Part 2 of this conversation.

Transcript

[Shannon Sharpe]

What if you guys were the same age? What if you came in. Cause you came in 98, LeBron came in 03.

[Paul Pierce]

If we were the same age, I don't believe he would have had four championships. He wouldn't have got.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You kept him for four.

[Paul Pierce]

He wouldn't have got those two in Miami. You know, I was at an older age then, a lot of miles and stuff and it was hard for me to keep up with him. I ain't gonna lie. I'm looking, I'll be looking at that tape, Shannon, and I'm like, damn, I couldn't even move. Like.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All my life been grinding all my life Sacrifice hustle, paid the price wanna slice, got to roll a dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life look all my life been grinding all my life Sacrifice hustle, paid the price wanna slice, got the roll of dice that's why all my life I've been grinding all my life Hello. Welcome to another episode of Club Shay Shay. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor of Club Shay. Stopping by for conversation on the drink today is one of the greatest small forwards in NBA history. He's an NBA legend, an NBA champion, a Finals MVP, 10 time All Star, four time All NBA selection, A member of the very prestigious 75th anniversary team signifying. He's one of the greatest 75 players in NBA history. NBA scoring champ, NBA three point contest champ, Seth proclaimed best scorer in NBA history. Purest scorer in NBA, pure hall of Famer. His jersey is retired by two storied franchises, the Boston Celtics and the Kansas Jayhawks. He's a McDonald's All American. Mr. Basketball in the state of California. Government name is Paul Pierce. But you know him as the truth.

[Paul Pierce]

Here he is. What's up, truth? Good to see you, doc.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm always like, when I read off people's accolades, I'm always, I'm anxious to hear. When you hear everything that I read off and it's not that you deserve that. You earned that. When you hear all the things that I read, what's going through your mind?

[Paul Pierce]

I'm like, like, damn, I ain't heard it like, minute, like, for real. I'm like, man, I really did left my mark on the game.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? And it's come from childhood, you know, coming from here in Inglewood and going through every stage and being one of the top, from like high school to college to making it to the league. I mean, it's. I've Been blessed. You know what I'm saying? It's just a testament, I think, of my hard work, my dedication to everything. And. And it's showing, you know, based off what you read off.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right, man. Let's toast that then. Oh, man, it's great to have you on, man.

[Paul Pierce]

For sure.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You did break the Internet. You said you're the best pure scorer in NBA history. I wanna. Because when people think of scores, having followed the game as long as I followed, people talk about Kobe, people talk about Jordan, they talk about Kevin Durant, they talk about James Harden. You said you are a better. A pure scorer. Yeah. What is your definition of a pure scorer?

[Paul Pierce]

All right, this is what I'm gonna say. Because when I. I didn't give enough context to it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Paul Pierce]

And so, like, this is. I'll say it like this. If you just took everybody's greatest scoring strength or just say their athleticism. Let's just say the athleticism.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Paul Pierce]

And put me in that realm with them. That's how I feel.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But, Paul, you know, people don't look at you as being athletic, Paul. You don't jump high, you don't run.

[Paul Pierce]

I know. You know, that's what I'm saying. That's why I feel I'm. If you take the athleticism out of me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay, okay, okay. I see.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, yes.

[Paul Pierce]

Take Jordan's athleticism out where he can't just jump over you to score. And we just do everything on the floor. Right. I feel like my skill level is.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Better than Kobe, man.

[Paul Pierce]

Kobe is close.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He close.

[Paul Pierce]

What you mean? No, no, no. Look, look.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You Kobe to him or he Kobe deep?

[Paul Pierce]

Cause if you ever watch Kobe interviews about me, you know, he always talk about my footwork. Yes. And Kove had elite footwork, too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

And so, like, Cole without his athleticism, was still pretty elite because of that. Because of his IQ and his footwork.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Paul Pierce]

And there's not a lot of players I can say that about once I take their athleticism away. So if there is anybody, he's right there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, Harden is not the most athletic. Harden can put the ball in the basket at an elite, elite level.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, but listen to this. When you look at how you score, okay? So, like, say, like, you look at Harden, one of the greatest scorers ever had a historic season, but he was all threes and layups and free throws.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Like, no midi.

[Paul Pierce]

Like, he could shoot the midi. But, like, think about this. I could come up, like, today's game, name me one player that can come off a down screen and hit a jumper, right? They don't even run that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ain't nobody tried to hit the jumper.

[Paul Pierce]

Nobody can do that. Like maybe Kevin Durant and Steph Curry. Yeah, but like post game, mid range, off the dribble, three. Yeah, step back off the pick and roll. We not talking about nothing out there. Just getting buckets, right. I feel like post game, post game, mid game, elbow, three, all the way out. I had no offensive weaknesses. Like not one.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So when you said that statement, how many former or current NBA players. Cause they true, man, what you talking about?

[Paul Pierce]

I mean they thought I was on something, but I'm like, I mean they don't think like how I was thinking and like how I'm explaining. And now I think it'll make more sense when people watch this. You know when you say, but even that, take all the top scorers, take they best thing they do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

And you could take the best thing I do. See, the thing about me, you can't even tell me what's the best thing I do offensively because I think I do all of them the same really well. You know what I'm saying? Like you could say Curry, take his shooting ability away. Jordan what his fadeaway or whatever. Like you, like, what do you take away from me? Like I can do what's my greatest scoring strength? Nobody can even tell you. Cause I did it all.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, I'mma push you to the three point line.

[Paul Pierce]

I won a three point championship contest. I won a three point contest.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That ain't nobody guarding you.

[Paul Pierce]

I mean I've dominated games from the three.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

Like you know what I'm saying? So I say it like that. And it's not a knock on the great scorers. Cause I respect all of them. And you know, it was a knock on Jordan. Cause I respect Carmelo, Kobe and all of them. But I'm like, I'm right there, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You did something that you're the first player to win the three point competition for a Celtic since Lagbird and you beat Steph Curry.

[Paul Pierce]

I always tell people, that's the thing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

See, it's not just winning the three point competition. It's who you beat in order to win the three point competition.

[Paul Pierce]

I said, hey, Steph Curry was in the contest. They'd be like, oh, he was a rookie. It was still Steph Curry. It was still Steph Curry.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It wasn't Steph Curry. That's all I need to know.

[Paul Pierce]

Steph Curry was in the contest. Cause in 10, 10 years from now, that's Steph Curry, and I beat him. I don't know how old he was. I don't know how old he was. You know what I'm saying? He was there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He was there. Hey, we ain't talking. Hey, we not talking about 10 years, Steph. We're not talking about. No, we talking about. He's still Steph.

[Paul Pierce]

Is he the greatest shooter ever?

[Shannon Sharpe]

He's the greatest shooter ever.

[Paul Pierce]

Well, I beat him. That's all I'm saying.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Kevin Durant responded and said, you know what he said? I really didn't see any weakness in Paul's game. I understand where his confidence comes from. You mentioned I ain't have no holes. I can post you. I can hit the middy. I can shoot the three. I could drive the basketball. I could drive and pull up. I can go to the A. I could put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. You find me, I'm going to the free throw line. Gonna make 80 plus percent of those. So when you look at it, it ain't really.

[Paul Pierce]

That's what I'm saying. Like, what can they do that I can't, except jump over somebody.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? Like, I got. I can shoot the three, I can shoot the pull up. I can shoot all. Who's the greatest scorer? Kevin Durant. I can do everything he can do. He just probably do it at a higher percentage.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, yeah, he gonna shoot at.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, he gonna do it. And that's the difference. When you talk about the score, the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Efficiency in which he does. The efficiency in which someone does something, that's what they're looking at now.

[Paul Pierce]

That's what they looking at. But if we just talk about this, the ability to do this, put the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ball in the basket that way. Right?

[Paul Pierce]

Then I'm right there. But, like, when you're doing it at a higher percentage, it looks different, like on another level. And that's what he does in today's game.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Who do you. When you watching today's game, you like. Okay. I see a little bit of my.

[Paul Pierce]

Game in him, man. I say Shay Gilgeous because he played below the rim.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? He not just blowing by people. He's footwork, pivots and stuff, and he just gets. Gets to the money.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

And so I could say him. Jason Tatum. I could say that about him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And yeah, I definitely see Tatum more.

[Paul Pierce]

So Tatum and Jimmy Butler, too. And the reason I see Jimmy Butler, because he get overlooked a lot.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying it ain't all flashy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? But he gets the point A to point B and he gets. And that's how I was. And his mental. His mental is like. We got the same type of mental type.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And people like Flash.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's why Jordan. Cause we had never seen a player like Jordan. I mean, the tongue hanging out, the way he got the ball in hand, got it in your face. He elevating over people. You know, Connie Hawkins and Dr. J could elevate. But Jordan, it was just something about that pizza. And just from that point on, you find a guy that has that flash. Kobe came with flash. And it's like now if a guy can score, man, he don't look like Jordan. He don't do it like Cole.

[Paul Pierce]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You gotta have Flash with it. Now, as great as Shay is, I don't think he gets the appreciation because it's fundamental.

[Paul Pierce]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We like things unorthodox. We don't need to. We orange fundamental.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, we come from the era Shannon, to where, you know, as a culture, we flashy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? Like the way we dress, the way we walk, the way we.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You hear me before you see me.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah. The way we loud.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You look at my car.

[Paul Pierce]

That's how we play sports. Yes. So we gravitate towards that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We do.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? And that's why when they start talking about the face of the league, they gravitating toward Anthony Edwards. Cause of his flash.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Paul Pierce]

When Jayson Tatum has won the chip now. Has been on top of the world. And nobody really gave them that when they won it. You know what I'm saying? So we look at that shiny that's attractive that we gravitate to. And so. And that's why I never really got a lot of the credit. Cause I wasn't that. I was more of a no nonsense player.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

And that's why I throw Jimmy Butler in there. He's like that. I feel like LeBron been the face of the league since his second or third year. You know what I'm saying? We was calling him the King from day one, you know what I'm saying? I heard about him in high school. NBA Cats was flying to his game. I was in the all star game in Philadelphia. I'll never forget this. We about to run. We was in the locker room. Cause we all congregate, both teams, east and West. They was like, it's a kid right now that could play an all star game today. And I was like, what? They were saying that in the NBA all star locker room while this kid was in high school. That's when I heard about him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So LeBron had to be what, 17s 18.

[Paul Pierce]

They was like, this kid can play in this game today. Damn. That's what they were saying in the locker room.

[Shannon Sharpe]

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[Paul Pierce]

No, not the best athlete. He probably meant more like basketball player. I wouldn't give myself best basketball player.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Who you gonna give it to?

[Paul Pierce]

I give it to Lisa.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Paul Pierce]

I give it to Lisa Leslie. I've always had admiration for her. She's from Inglewood.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Like, okay, okay.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? I had honor to see her play in high school. When you know the word around town. Inglewood's small.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

So like, you hear about people when you young. You like. Let me go check out everybody talk about Lisa. She scored 100 points, like at the half Man. I'm trying to Say how you get.

[Shannon Sharpe]

100 points at a half even if you by yourself.

[Paul Pierce]

Right, right. She was cold, man, I'm telling you. I gotta give flowers to Lisa, right? You know, I looked up to her as a kid, watching her at Morningside grin that we come from the same place, right? And so I give it to her, give it to her. I'll probably be in the top three or four maybe basketball players, right? But like athlete, that's kind of a stretch. Cause there's so many great athletes come out to see.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause Cali's so big.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What's your fondest memories of growing up in Inglewood? What did, what did 7 year old, 10 year old, 12 year old Paul Pierce, what did he want to be? What? Growing up and running around Inglewood, what did you want to be, man?

[Paul Pierce]

I think as a young black kid growing up and like so I'm going to tell you this, Shannon. I was born in East Oakland, okay. You know, and then I moved to LA when I was like nine years old.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Paul Pierce]

So like everybody dream as a kid, it's just like to be in sports or rap, you know. You know, that's just what it was in the black community. You know, we didn't feel like we can be doctors or the Huxtables, even though we watched that, you know, we just felt like that was the only way out the ghetto. And so my dream was always to be in the NBA or professional sports because all our heroes was that. Yes, you know, unless you rap, you know. Cause I'm looking at other black kids and black successful people rapped sports.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, so my dream was always to be in the NBA, man. It was like it was all or nothing, you know what I'm saying? And I was a pretty smart kid, you know, I went to my classes. I'm not saying if I didn't make it in hoop that I wouldn't have been nothing, but I would have found a way to do something whether it be sports or just succeed in life. Because I'm a hustler, I'm a grinder and I'm gonna find a way.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You gonna find a way to figure it out. You just devoted. It's not that you couldn't have been better in your books, but the books was about let me do what I need to do to make sure this basketball thing pans out. And if that basketball thing don't pan out, then I'll think about something else. But you got a singular focus and I think you have to nothing else. Well, I Got a plan B. I got a plan C. I got a plan C, Doc. I got a plan A. If A don't work after a couple of years, if A don't work out, I'll get to B, C and D. But right now it's all A.

[Paul Pierce]

And then you don't realize how hard you really work. Or like people say it, but they don't do what it takes to actually get to the dream. Yeah, you know, like me, when everybody going out, man, I'm telling you, man, me and my boys, we used to, when I was like in college, we would go out to the club and we'll leave the club and go to the beach and run, and go to the sand dunes and run up that hill. We were so obsessed with it, we was like, man, you know what? Ain't nobody talking about nothing tonight. Let's go to the gym, let's go to the sand dunes. You gotta be obsessed with it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

My grandfather used to tell me and my brother and I all the time, we was growing up in rural South Georgia, he say, never mistake habit for hard work. And it took a while for me to understand. I had to get older. See, people do things over and over and think they're working hard. Just cause you go to the gym every day, that don't mean you working hard. You doing that out of habit.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, for sure.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So people mistake habit for hard work. And when they don't get the results, see, you can't complain about the results you didn't get for the work you didn't put in.

[Paul Pierce]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Man, coach messed over me, man. I was smoke back. Hey, hey, Paul, wasn't I better than you in the eighth grade? Paul, wasn't I better than you?

[Paul Pierce]

He sure was. Yeah, he was, dawg. But you, you chose complacent. Exactly, you got complacent.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But it's funny to hear other athletes say it. And if you've been a professional athlete, you understand what it takes to get to that level. Yeah, man, Coach just like you. Coach ain't putting no ball in the basket. Coach ain't catching no passes.

[Paul Pierce]

See, those people is excuse makers.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? Like when I. My mom was like, you know, she always told me, like, listen, dog, you gonna forge your own path and don't get discouraged. But you gotta put in the work. But like, don't make excuses for this shit. Yeah, like you, you, it's on you. If something happens, it's on you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Paul Pierce]

Don't stop blaming everybody else. Cause you gonna spend the rest of your life blaming everybody else for your failures. Yes, I blame me for every time I mess up something, that's the only person. And then I can get over it better. Yes. So it's easy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you grew up in Oak. You started. Your first nine years was in Oakland, then you come to Inglewood. The gang culture was heavily in both areas. How did you not succumb to that?

[Paul Pierce]

Man, that's a story we don't document enough. Like, I think there needs to be, like, a documentary on the way sports and gang culture came up, especially for, like, inner city kids. It kind of went hand in hand.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, because you grow up with guys, and once you start getting older, you start forging your path. But y' all still live in the same.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We still cool.

[Paul Pierce]

We still cool. And so it's like you could easily get caught up. Cause I seen guys that was great at basketball, but they were still in the streets, you know? And that comes from, like, I think having, like, the right people around you, the right friends, you know, and the right parents. I saw my mom struggle. I come from a single parent home. Okay. And I never met my father, you know, to this day. Well, I seen pictures of us when I was little.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't really remember. You don't really remember it, though?

[Paul Pierce]

No. Like, I was like three or four. Okay. But I don't have a memory of them. And so, you know, the one thing I always preach, like, don't be a follower, you know? Cause I think that's what, you know, the gangs is all about. Just following each other, you know, or.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wanted to be a. I've heard people say it's the only family I know. It's the only family I had. They made me feel like I was a part of something. And that's what family, you know, you're supposed to feel the love. And I never felt love at home, but I felt love from this group.

[Paul Pierce]

But, like, if this is love, then why y' all beating my ass to get on? If this is love, why you asking me to put my life on the line and have dangerous acts, right? You know, I'm getting in a car and there's a drive by, I can go to jail, right? You know, I've been caught in one of them cars, Shan, man, I've been caught in one of them cars, and I looked at my life flash between my eyes, and I never got in that car again. I didn't know what was going to happen, right? But I was just like, I can't put myself in this situation no more. You know what I'm saying? Because I see a lot of my young friends get killed. I seen a lot of my young friends. Like, it's crazy. Like, as a kid, you don't really think about it. Cause we so used to it growing up in the hood. It's traumatizing now. Like, when you think about it, like.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What could have been or what could have been lost.

[Paul Pierce]

But we taught to be tough when I just lost my. My friend I was with at the movies yesterday. I went to like three funerals in high school. That's not normal, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, absolutely not.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? But we looked at it as like, man, deal with it, right? You know, this is what happens, you know, like today, you know, you gonna have to see us see somebody and talk about it. Whereas, like, you gotta deal with it. But I'm like, man, just don't stay from this area. Watch, you know, Watch. And that's not normal. The mindset. Cause like, my mindset was like, man, I just wanna make it to 21.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

Wow. You know, like, damn, what you wanna be when you grow up? Man, I wanna just be 21.

[Shannon Sharpe]

21.

[Paul Pierce]

Because, you know, the statistics was most young black kids before the age of 21 would be dead or in jail.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Paul Pierce]

And you hear that all the time growing up. And I was just like, get to.

[Shannon Sharpe]

21, Paul, was there ever a situation? I remember when I was in college and then I got to the league, I had guys that I went to high school with. I knew what they were doing, but they would never put me in harm's way. I would be somewhere. I was like, hey, man, I'm headed back downtown. Anybody wanna ride with me? They like, nah, Sharpe, I got that stuff on me. I ain't gonna. Cause I ain't gonna even put you in harm's way. You get stopped, they already know I'm dirty. Now, if they ain't gonna talk about me, they gonna talk about Sharpe's homeboy in the NFL, so forth and so on. Cause it used to be like that guys would not let Guys, bro, you got some. Man, get your ass outta here. You got stuff going on for you. Get the f' em around here.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, that's what gang cultures are. Once you started getting good in the neighborhood. That's the thing about the gang culture in sports, they started rallying around that. So they was just like, nah, you can't come over here today.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

Or, nah, we gotta make sure you get home. Because if anybody gonna make It a hood. We gonna make sure you make it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, and that's the story don't get talked about. You know what? We gonna go to the games. Ain't nobody gonna do nothing. It was like your security.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You had security way back then.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, security way back then. Like, don't mess with Pete, you know, he gonna make it out, right? You know? Cause if he make it out, we feel like we all made it. We do. And that was the culture, and that's what it was. I did have that. You know, it'd be times like, you know, I'm over there, they smoking weed and everything. Like, man, you gotta go home, man. You know, go home, get home.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

I'm just outside, around the corner.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

But this is what I live around, right? You know, they all standing outside, man. Go home, man. Get ready. Go to the gym or go shoot some hoops.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

All right. Get out of here.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Bet.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Is it true that you got cut from your high school basketball team as a freshman and a sophomore?

[Paul Pierce]

Sophomore, Yeah, I got demoted.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you tried out for Barca? They put you on jv? Yeah, yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

But then he brought me back up. He brought me back up because, look, we was missing some players. He brought me back up. Cause we was missing some players. I think we only had, like, seven players for this tournament.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? Cause over Christmas break, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Paul Pierce]

It was going very well. So I was there. So he had no choice but to play. And so I started ball. I took advantage of the over opportunity.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yep.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, and that's what people gotta realize. When your window is there. You gotta seize it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

That was my window.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

Cause, like, maybe I wouldn't have gained the confidence I gained if I didn't take advantage of my window. And from that point on, it just. My confidence grew.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

I was the youngest on the team. And then they were just like, man, you know what? We're gonna keep him up on varsity, and he gonna start the rest of the year. Wow. Like, the last 16 games started, and from that point, that was it. That was it. I started gaining confidence. I was getting stronger, and I was just like, man, I can be good. So now I' shoot, I'm in the gym. Like, I'm getting better, right? I'm starting. I'm growing into my little grown man phase now. And I'm just like, ooh, okay. Cause you know when you get that confidence and you just see confidence is everything, is nothing. It's everything. When you start seeing shots go in and you getting better and you growing and you like, oh man, I can do it. And then I got the people around me saying, man, you can do it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You like, I don't know who job I took, but he ain't getting it back.

[Paul Pierce]

Ain't no coming back from this. Ain't no coming back.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You might as well stay on Christmas break, bro.

[Paul Pierce]

Yep. Yeah. Ain't no coming back from this backtrack.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The reason why you moved to la, did you burn the house down?

[Paul Pierce]

I did have a situation like that, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What you mean the situation?

[Paul Pierce]

Man, I was a kid, you know, this is something a lot of people don't know this story. And thank God social media wasn't out because I was, I was playing with matches.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

As a like eight year old. Just we had a little small two bedroom house and three boys in it. And I was playing with. I'll never forget it either. I'm whiten up the quilt, blowing it out like, you know, we called it quilts then. I don't have a quilt. Kids don't know about that. The quilt, that was handmade. So I'm blowing it out, seeing how matches worked. And it lit it and it said. And I looked and I. And it was so out of control in my mama bedroom. I ran out and sat on the couch. You ain't tell nobody, say nothing? Didn't say nothing. Next thing you know, it's smoke. And next thing you know, man, we, man, I'm in front of the house, the whole neighborhood outside, fire trucks.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you tell them what happened?

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, eventually I got my ass whooped a lot.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They beat it out yard.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah. You know, and that's why I'm so proud that I made it, that I was able to reward my mom with a house when I got to the league and stuff.

[Shannon Sharpe]

This is the house I burned, mama. This for the one I burned down, man.

[Paul Pierce]

This is a true story, man. I got relatives to this day that'll tell you this story, man. I'm telling you. It's like. And then so as a kid, when I get back to the neighborhood, a year later we move back in the house. I guess a year later we move back in the house. I'm going around the neighborhood. They like arson. The older kids is calling me arsonist. I don't even know what that is. I have no clue what an arsonist is at the age of eight, you know what I'm saying? So I'm like, why they calling me that? You know what I'm Saying I was like, damn. And then later I found out, oh, you know, you set fires, you set fire, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You didn't get that Smokey the Bear psa.

[Paul Pierce]

I know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Don't play with matches, man.

[Paul Pierce]

Things happen for a reason, you know?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did you ever try. You ever try football?

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, I was good at football.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You was good at football. What position did you play?

[Paul Pierce]

I was a quarterback. And then I played DN also. I started in football and baseball. Like when I broke my leg, I was playing with older kids. So I was like 8, 9 years old, playing with like 13, 14 year olds. Cause I was a big kid. Broke my leg. And then I broke my leg again when I turned 12.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Paul Pierce]

So I broke my leg twice before I was even a teenager. Damn. And so moms was like, you're gonna staunch your growth. You can't play football.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. They thought you was gonna break your growth.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah. That's the stories we got told. Don't lift weights and don't. You broke something, you can't play no more. But I was originally football and baseball before I even thought about basketball. Right. So.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So high school, you turn it out, you go to the McDonald's All American game.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you was recently named one of the 35 greatest McDonald's All American players in the history of the game. So what was it like? Okay, you finish up your senior year, you get to call Paul. You're a McDonald's All American. Obviously, if you play basketball, there is no higher honor for a high school basketball player. You miss the basketball in the state of California, and you get to invite McDonald's all America.

[Paul Pierce]

That was everything. Because I remember my sophomore year, I told everybody I want to be in that game. I remember watching Jason Kidd in that game when I was. I said, I'm a play in that game. I'm telling one of my best friends. And he was like, man, shut up. You know, get out of here. I said, watch. I'm gonna play in that game. That's when my college started growing. And so when I got that invitation, I was like, man, this is it. This is the top of the top.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? And then I got KG there. Cause the summer before, me and KG played together at aau. He stayed at my house. So me and KG history go way back.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That explains it now. Cause I was wondering. I said, well, damn, how they. I mean, they didn't come out together. And then researching, I was like, okay, they was in the McDonald's All American game together. I didn't Know the AAU story, though. How many people know that? AAU story?

[Paul Pierce]

It's out there. So our AAU coach flew Kevin out to LA. Some are 11th grade, going to 12th grade year. He was like, I got this kid Paul Pierce. Cause then you have to read about Cats.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You didn't know?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. It wasn't no Internet.

[Paul Pierce]

He saw a picture you couldn't see. So he flew him out. He actually stayed at my place. Okay. For a whole week. Right. And we practiced at Inglewood High School. And we drove out to Vegas and we played in the tournament. Won the tournament. And so that year, KG was in South Carolina. Was gonna move. He was getting out of South Carolina. Cause he was dealing with some issues out there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Paul Pierce]

So I was trying to get him to move out to Inglewood. You can stay with me. So he was fielding either coming out to Inglewood or going to Chicago.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

Wind up going to Chicago and, you know, the rest is history. Left out of high school and all that. But that's when we started our relationship the summer before.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay. I'm looking at that game. Kg, Vince Carter, Stephon Marbury. You like? Okay. Cause Vince won the mvp. Who won the All Star Game. Mvp.

[Paul Pierce]

The KG won.

[Shannon Sharpe]

KG won. Vince won the dunk contest.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah. He embarrassed me in that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What you true?

[Paul Pierce]

You know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You know I know how to fly.

[Paul Pierce]

I know. And you know what? You know, it's so crazy, Shannon. I was so excited to be in the McDonald's game. I participated in the three boy contest. The dunk contest. I just said, sign me up. I knew I had no business being in that, but I was just like, sign me up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You missed six dunks.

[Paul Pierce]

I know. And then I seen Vince for the first time, and I was just like, whoa.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, he gonna win.

[Paul Pierce]

He gonna win a lot of these for years to come. He could have won the NBA dunk contest as a senior in high school. Cause he was.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I mean, you see old footage and his head is at the rim in high school, man.

[Paul Pierce]

That's what I'm saying. I was like. I just was happy to be there. And I want to participate.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm trying to help me understand this. A kid from California, Inglewood, California. How the hell you end up in Lawrence, Kansas? Only Dorothy wanted to go back home.

[Paul Pierce]

Right. Who?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Kansas? No beaches.

[Paul Pierce]

Yep.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ain't a whole lot of people that look like you out there.

[Paul Pierce]

Not at all.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you like, yeah, this where I.

[Paul Pierce]

Need to go 100%. Hey, listen, when you grow up in the streets out there, you seeing what's going On, I need to get.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You try to get far away.

[Paul Pierce]

And I can't far away from this. And I'm not coming back. I'm gonna come back for a week to see my mama.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

You know what? It's crazy. I took my visit. You said like, you know, you know, you take your visit party, usc. It's fun. It's Cal, Arizona's fun. Fun. When I went to Kansas, it was nothing going on. I was like, this is where I need to be focused, locked in.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I ain't got to worry about it. Because, see, if you in ucla, usc.

[Paul Pierce]

Every weekend you gonna be home, they gonna be like, hey, I wanna go to the game. You wanna go back into the neighborhood? I came out there, I was like, you know what? This is just nothing going on out here. They got a Long John Silver's to eat. I'm cool with that. You know, I'm coming here. And that was it. Cause I was mature. I knew what you know, and I knew. I was like, man, I'm not coming back to the Wood. Cause it's too much.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Too much going on.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

When you look at Kansas players, where does Paul Prius rank himself? You got Wilt Chamberlain, you got Embiid, you got Wiggins, you got Danny Manning. I mean, you got some great Kansas Jayhawk players.

[Paul Pierce]

I put myself in the top five. I'm gonna say Wilt is the greatest player to ever come out of Kansas. And then, you know, everything's up for debate. You know, Embiid was the number one pick. Wiggins was the number one pick. You know, but if we just talk about your Kansas career.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, you gotta put like, Danny Manning.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Gotta be up.

[Paul Pierce]

Danny Manning. Danny probably second.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, I remember Danny in the Miracle. Yeah, Danny, ain't no way he's supposed to. They supposed to win a national championship.

[Paul Pierce]

You gotta put Danny. And I never even went to a Final Four. I was the first team All American. And I have some good statistics, but, you know, it's guys that really had great college career. Mario Chalmers is in there for the national championship final.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Most outstanding player, Morris Twins. Yeah. Yep.

[Paul Pierce]

Thomas Robinson, he was national player of the year, I think. So. We had some great players come out. I put myself in the top five because of what I was able to accomplish from college all the way through. You look at the end of the story.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, wait, you number two behind Will.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, I'll probably be number two.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You be number two behind. And that ain't the bad days.

[Paul Pierce]

That ain't bad.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So now you come out you have a great college career. You come out in your draft. Vince Carter, you got Dirk Nowitzki, you got Mike Bibby, Antoine Jameson, Jason Williams, Larry Hughes. So if they were to redraft, say, you know what we know what we know now, and they redraft, where you going in the draft?

[Paul Pierce]

I'll probably go number two. It'll probably be Dirk and then me. Yeah, yeah, I would say that you redraft, then you probably go Vince. Yeah, Dirk, me, Vince. Then it's close from then. I mean, you could say Mike Bibby or Antoine Jameson, something like that. Yeah, but that'll be the top three right there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Do you believe you should have won rookie of the Year.

[Paul Pierce]

Man? As much as I was after the first month, I would have won. But then I sprained my ankle. And let me tell you this story, Chad. I was in. My boy was living with me my rookie year. He came out from the wood and he was like, I sprained my ankle. He came in like, did you see what Vince did last night? I was like, man, I don't care what Vince did, like. Cause we competed for rookie of the year. And I'm like, damn, you know what he is killing. He showing me all these dunks. And so I couldn't deny what Vince was doing his rookie year. Yeah, he was crazy, man. He was going crazy. I mean, he was dunking on everybody, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He got Zo, he got Rick's, Ben.

[Paul Pierce]

He got everybody as a rookie too. I mean, he just. That was his coming out party. And I was just like. I couldn't deny that. So I deserve second because I missed. Cause I was hurt. If I didn't get hurt, it would have been a closer race.

[Shannon Sharpe]

A closer race.

[Paul Pierce]

Mm. But Vince deserved that as a rookie.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What are some of the things. Because I think every league has what rookies have to go through. Some people call it hazing or initiation. You gotta bring donuts or you gotta get chicken or burger for the plight. You know what I'm saying? It's a ritual. It's an initiation that, you know, I'm like, man, I can't wait till my. I'm like, I will make the team next year just cause I want somebody to bring me ish. Then I gotta bring everybody else. That's the sole reason. So what, as a rookie, what did they have you do it?

[Paul Pierce]

You know, you had to bring that care package to the vets, make sure you put it in the bag. Got to go on the road. You know what that care package was? You know, you gonna have A little bit of everything.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. You wasn't afraid? Like, hold on, man. Y' all putting me at risk. Yeah, come on, man.

[Paul Pierce]

Come on.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Now.

[Paul Pierce]

You play it at the highest level. That care package. Hey, put that in the luggage when we get to the airplane.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn.

[Paul Pierce]

And then I gotta take the package back when we land whatever's left of the package and dispose of it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. So you get drafted, you go into the Boston Celtics. What were you thinking? Like, damn, where did you want to go? Did you work out for the Celtics?

[Paul Pierce]

No, I didn't work out for the Celtics. Damn. That's what I'm saying. I was projected to go number two in the draft. So the number one pick was the Clippers at the time. And number two was Vancouver. Vancouver had a need for my position, but the Clippers did, too, right? And so I asked Elgin Baylor, let me work out again. Cause I wouldn't have mind coming home to the Clippers my first year.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Who they took? Oluva Candy.

[Paul Pierce]

They took Oliver Candy. And then number two was Mike Bibby. Three was Ray from the France. Then it was like, Antwan Jameson, Vince Carter. You know the crazy part when they picked Jason Williams. White Chocolate.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

I didn't even know who that was at the time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He went to sack, right?

[Paul Pierce]

Yes. But I didn't even know who he was because apparently he went to Florida. I don't even know what college he went to. Apparently he got suspended for something in the play. And I was just like. I was sitting there like, who is that, right? You know? And then when Boston called me my name, I was just like, I didn't even work out for them, you know? And then, like, a good friend of mine is Chauncey Billups. I remember talking to him while he was in Boston, right? And he was telling me how, like, I was like, how the league is, man. You know, this is before I got drafted, right? And he was like, man, you know, training camp was tough, dawg. I got Rick Pitino. He had like five or six of us on IVs. And I was like, what? Like, we running? Like, y' all running like that in the league? He was like, yeah. So when he called. When he called my name, Boston, that's all that's going through.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's all I was going through.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, he gonna kill us. Oh, man, he gonna kill us. He gonna be on the IVs. So I'm going hard this summer. Like, I ain't about to be on no iv. I'm about to be running these sand hills. But it was Just. It was a shock, truthfully. I didn't know whether to smile. I was smiling, but I wasn't happy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because you understand, a Boston Celtics was one of the premier franchises in basketball. I mean, at the time, you talking about Knicks, you talking about the Lakers. You talk about the Celtics and the Bulls. At the time, because Jordan had reinvigorated, everybody was talking about the Bulls. So you go into a storied. A historically great franchise, although they had been on some lean years. Did you look at it like, man. Man, the history. It's hard to say an NBA team got more history than the Boston Celtics. All those championships, all those great. Those great names and those jersey retired. You see 6 and 32 and 34. I mean, excuse me, 33. And you got double zero, and you got koozie number retired. And you know, all the KC And Sam Jones.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah. You know, it's crazy. When I first got there, one of the first persons I met was Red Auerbach. Cause he throwing charity golf tournament before the season. So I had a chance to sit with him. He was like, paul, come here. And I looked. I didn't think he was talking to me. I didn't even think he knew who I was.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

So I had a chance to sit down with him. But then it was such a blessing, Shannon, because think about this. I'm a kid from Los Angeles area going to the Boston Celtics. I'm really gonna find out who my friends are. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

Let me see who rocking with me now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

You know? Cause we as la. As a black kid. We hated Boston.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hated Boston.

[Paul Pierce]

We hated Boston. I'm a Laker fan. And you know, it was that. Who. Magic Bird. Black, white. That was a thing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes, absolutely.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? So it was just like, let me see who the homies is now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But if they roll with you.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, but like, I had a homie I invited to the gang. We played the Lakers, man. He wore the whole Laker uniform. So me in the back, you know, my mom. My mom didn't play that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

She was like, who's this? Right? He with you? You can't be. We ain't doing that. Cause my mama. Whole family gonna have my jersey off. You know, my section. I know he's standing next to all the Celtics jersey.

[Shannon Sharpe]

With a Laker jersey.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah. With a Lakers jersey on. This is all like, come on. I know we all from la, but it's time to switch up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Y' all see who you put that on when you go back out there.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. But like, damn, you know, So I found out who the real homies was fast.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You get that first check, obviously, all the things that you, like, I'm going to the NBA. I'm gonna be a professional athlete. And all the things that you wanted to be able to accomplish and you always wanted to do, now you have that opportunity. When you got that first million dollars, what's going through your mind, man?

[Paul Pierce]

It took a while to get that million, Shannon. People think me. Cause think. Let me tell you this. When I got drafted, number 10, my check for the year was a million, right? We had a lockout. So cut that in half. Ooh. So then it's 500,000 taxes. Cut that in half. Yeah. So really, all I had was about like 200.

[Shannon Sharpe]

By the time you get age, the agent get it. 3 to 5%.

[Paul Pierce]

Yep. So knock that down. I needed me an apartment to rent, right? And probably, what, 2,500, 3,000. 3,000 at the time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

In LA, too, and Boston. So I just had like, you need a whip.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You gotta have.

[Paul Pierce]

You gotta get around whip, man, when I tell you I had about like my first year, I probably had about like 10,000 left.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Were you able to give mom anything?

[Paul Pierce]

Man, Mom's. I hardly gave her anything at first. I had to sign cards, you know, And I was, you know, and I retired and I was like, it's gonna come in. But, man, I didn't even get her the house. My first. Wow. I don't think I got her house till like my third year, right? So, you know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, you got that first big check, though. When you looked at it, you re sign, you re up and you like, damn, man, this more money. I mean, when I was dreaming, I don't know if the money. I don't know if the check was this big, even in my dreams. But now this is a reality, right?

[Paul Pierce]

That's when Mom's got that house. Oh, yeah, mom. We driving around Beverly Hills. We up in the hills, you know. So I got her something nice that was. That. It was just so special for me to just see the look on her face, you know? And, you know, my mom, old school, I got her a Cadillac, right? You know, she wanted the new. It was the new version of the Cadillac, though, you know? Cause we always dream like my mom used. I want that Cadillac, dog. That l. Dog. That was like, you know, in the black neighborhood, the Cadillac was like a Benz today.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Absolutely.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? A Cadillac.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Was that blacks Damn near saved Cadillac. Cause that's what all blacks got. They didn't get no Mercedes, Benz or BMW. They wanted a Caddy.

[Paul Pierce]

Caddy, cr.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That L Dog. That Coupe de Ville.

[Paul Pierce]

That Coupe de Ville, right? That Cadillac coupe, man, they want that long, boy. But it was the new body style at the time, around the late, you know, early 2000s. Cause we grew up looking at that long thing with the couch seats.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, yeah. Clear the beat.

[Paul Pierce]

But I got her a Cadillac and she was happy to, you know, she just wanted to get her good outfits to go to church in and her Cadillac, get her nice hat. And just to have mom looking like that in church was like, man, everything.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You pull up there with a hat on and that new Caddy, the new.

[Paul Pierce]

Caddy with the hat on, just to go in there with her sitting next to her, that was everything for her.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Paul, we was talking a little bit this off camera about guys making so much money and do through. Maybe it's a bad investment. Maybe it's a divorce. Maybe it's. Even if it's kids. You had kids in the marriage, and you're not divorced. If you have kids outside the marriage, you can imagine what it costs. I mean, private schools and, you know, all that other stuff. Insurance? No, things like that.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And guys going belly up. And now it happens in a lot of sports. But, you know, football players, even though they're making great money now, their money's not guaranteed. Basketball players, you see 100 million, they're gonna get $100 million minus the taxes. 200 million, they're gonna get 200 million minus the taxes. 300, you say. I think Luka can be the first guy to make 400 million in 28. Having been around and seen guys like, how does a guy lose that kind of money, Man?

[Paul Pierce]

I think people don't understand, like. Cause when people see you saying, like today, the number is so ridiculously high, it'd be hard to lose that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

So like, my maximum contract, my first contract was 80 million, right. So let's cut that in half.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's 40.

[Paul Pierce]

40.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Minus the 3 to 5% for the agent.

[Paul Pierce]

Agent fee. Boom. You talk about that then. You talk about you want to get a house.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

Now I got a big deal. I want to get a house now. So I spent like 4 or 5 million on the house.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

State taxes on that. Now I got the family on payroll.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

Boom. So now that's about another, like half a million, which every half a million costs you a million. And so it can go faster than you Think.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, and then everybody ain't making my money, right. You know, majority of the league is making lower than that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But here's the problem that they run into. Half the league ain't making your money, but that same half spending your money.

[Paul Pierce]

Now, you want now? Yep. Now I wanna go stunt at the club. Have nice meals. Yeah. I wanna go to the club, get that bottle service. 5,000 every time I go out to the club. Oh, baby. Man. All right, now, shoot. Oh, damn. I got. Let me take care of this girl over here. Let me throw her 2,000amonth on rent. This my girl, you know. I don't want her to live with me, but I'll make sure she got her up, you know that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Get her a nice little car. Get her a little car to get around.

[Paul Pierce]

This is my girl, you know, I got her a little something. That's my girl, you know. I don't want her, you know, so that's.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What about the homies? You flying the homies out. You got three or four homies, you bring them out. They first class. They staying in the. If they not staying with you, they stayed in the hotel. You paying for everything.

[Paul Pierce]

Paying for everything.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And they got that reflective shine, so.

[Paul Pierce]

Hey, that's Paul Pierce, homeboy.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hell, yeah, that's me.

[Paul Pierce]

Then you gonna go on at least one trip.

[Shannon Sharpe]

One.

[Paul Pierce]

At least one. When you got about four or five.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Of them and you paying for everything.

[Paul Pierce]

We going to. Where we gonna stay at the rents. Well, Pete, what's your room? Oh, I got the penthouse suite.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right, Right.

[Paul Pierce]

I'm gonna get. But the Ritz. The regular rooms is 800 a night.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right, Right. And you out there weak. Your room, 2,500 a night.

[Paul Pierce]

Right. And then you constantly doing that. That add up, man. People don't know if you ain't got them endorsements. I was fortunate enough to have some endorsements, so I used to use my endorsement, the offset. But I used to use that, pay for that, put my NBA money over here.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? But, like, for the guys who ain't making max deals, man, you look up after five, six years, you look up and like, man, I'm check to check. Yeah, that happens a lot.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It does. And is gambling. Cause, you know, we're very competitive. We competitive everything, man. Let's shoot for 5,000. Let's shoot for 10,000. Let's play tunk. Let's play Boo Ray. Let's play guts.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, the.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Ain't nothing for free.

[Paul Pierce]

The black culture is built around gambling. When you got money and you successful. Yeah, you see it everywhere with us. You know, you see it in the music videos, shooting dice. You see the card games on the planes. You see, you know, guys want to be. You know, they want to impress. They girls, high road, go to, you know, And I was a victim of that. I was going gambling, you know, going.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You did casino gambling?

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, I was going to the casinos and stuff and doing all that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you playing blackjack.

[Paul Pierce]

You played. I played blackjack, Yeah, I played blackjack. And it's easy when the money rolling in. You know what I'm saying? But I had a lot of examples around me to say, like, you know what, Pete, you better slow down.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

Like, they losing money. You can end up like this. You know, my teammate, you know, Antwan Walker, was a victim of gambling, and.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He told a story that, you know, hey, I'm bringing all my homeboys. I'm taking five, ten homeboys with me. I'm gambling. Five, ten, 15,000 a hand.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, Yeah. I ain't never did that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no.

[Paul Pierce]

My limit is like 300 a hand. That's a lot.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But see, what happens is, you get around somebody that got that kind of money, and they playing like that, you want to impress.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, I seen that. Hey.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Nah, I ain't.

[Paul Pierce]

I seen that. I'm watching that. I like this watch. Like, I had a chance to watch, you know, Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And I was like, yeah, see, Micah, Mike. See, Mike be trying to. He know. He want to. He want to bet. Enough to make you uncomfortable, bro, I'm not finna lose my house fooling with you, trying to impress you. Nah. Hell nah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know. And you know what? A lot of guys get caught up with taking the credit line.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? So I don't take the credit line. So I bring.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Once you got what? Once you got what I came with.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, I'm good.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm good. That's it.

[Paul Pierce]

This is this and this entertainment. You took this. All right, I'm good.

[Shannon Sharpe]

In Boston, you had a situation. You got stabbed, neck back. You got hit over the head. Had you ever had any issues in Boston before that incident?

[Paul Pierce]

I never had no issues before that. You know, I was in my third year. Yes. I have had no problems in the streets with nobody. I really believe that it was an isolated incident.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Paul Pierce]

And, you know, I think egos got involved in it. Yes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? And it shouldn't have happened. You know, it was a situation to where I tell the story. You know, we played pool. We ended up the pool game, went over to the club. You know, it happened so fast, Shannon. It was so crazy. Cause we literally just got there. It was me, Tony Batist, Derek Bati, maybe a few other guys. And it was just like, man, I'm young.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm going to have a good time. The hunt is there, it's going to be lit.

[Paul Pierce]

I'm going to go talk to some girls or whatever. I mean, what. I'm in the league. I mean, am I doing something wrong? No, I'm not doing nothing wrong. I wanna meet some girls. That's attractive. You know, I'm young, successful, and, you know, and I get into a situation and it's still blurry. Like, I don't remember completely because I was like, I had a concussion from it and everything. But the only thing I really remember was three girls and one guy, you know, and it was just like a situation where I wasn't disrespectful. You know, I never wanna disrespect somebody that I In a situ. In a town where, I don't know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You don't really know what's going on.

[Paul Pierce]

But my fault where I messed up at was we walk in as a group and I tell off. I don't go to the section with them.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

I walk this way instead.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

Like, when you together, y' all supposed to stick together. Got to, you know, and that's a lesson I learned. It was a hard lesson.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, because if something escalated, at least if my guys was there, they could have de. Escalated it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Correct.

[Paul Pierce]

And, you know, I wouldn't end up in that situation. And, you know, it happened. It was just like, I guess it went from talking to some girls to an argument, pursuing. And then next thing you know, I'm feeling attacked. So I'm just like, it was one.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Guy or it was multiple?

[Paul Pierce]

Man, it looked like one guy right here. Yeah. But like, after it was all said and done, it was like three or four guys. And I'm a big dude.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? So you ain't gonna just take me down, right? And so, you know, the reports that came out from the people was like, man, if you didn't fight for your life, you would have been dead. They was like, you was fighting, but they was jumping on you and everything. But you were still fighting back and everything. And, you know, when three guys with three knives. It was three knives. Wow. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't Just one. It was like three. It was like. Based on the puncture wounds, it was three different knives.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Paul Pierce]

So they all was. Boom, boom.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Poking you.

[Paul Pierce]

And I'm just so blessed that, like, damn.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They said if you didn't have that leather coat on, it would have been much worse than what it was. You possibly could have lost your life.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, I had a leather. A tough leather Everx jacket. I wish I had a picture of it. Cause it was shredded, right? And then when I came out of all of it, I just remember the end of it. You know, I'm looking at myself like I'm, like bloodied up. Boom. I just remember wiping blood. I couldn't. It was like profusely. Bleeding profusely. And then they were just like, damn, I need to go to the hospital, you know? Cause this. My clothes are soaked in blood. And fortunately, I made it down the stairs. Cause I got pulled into, like, a black room over here. Didn't go down the stairs. And the hospital was literally one block away. Like, literally. I could have walked there. But we drove there, got in. Man, who knows? If the hospital wasn't right there, I couldn't be sitting here talking to you today. And, you know, that. That right there really changed my life.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Did it change where you go? Did it change how you move? Did it change how you talk to people? Did it change how you assembled the women? You know, like, okay, you got somebody. Cause you got somebody. I don't wanna hear this. I just broke up last. Me and my man broke up last week. Or, you know, I'm getting a divorce, but we still together. How did it change the way Paul Pierce interacted moving forward?

[Paul Pierce]

Man, it just changed. Like you said, a lot of it. It changed how I went out. Because after the incident, I didn't go out for a couple years. Yeah, hell, I could imagine it took a couple years for me to step into a club again. You know, it just changed my whole mindset. Because I didn't realize how many people it affected. You know, I'm sitting in the hospital and I'm seeing stacks of letters, and I'm seeing my moms, my brothers.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Your mom worried to death. Cause your mom in the church, so. She's a woman of faith, man.

[Paul Pierce]

Woman of faith. Pray every day. And I'm just like, damn. I'm looking at how it affected everybody around me. And it was just like, man, I put myself in a situation to where I affected all these people that love me. And I was like, I can't do that again.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Never.

[Paul Pierce]

I can't do that again. I'm like, I'm too valuable to the family right now. You know, I done made it this far not to throw it away like this on some bullshit.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yep.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? I don't have to go to the club. Like, you know, I came out here to hoop, you know, and I ain't even signed my deal yet.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

I ain't even got my big deal. What am I doing right? You know. And I know you young, wanna have fun and. But I.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But everybody truth. I tell guys all the time, I say, there are a lot of guys that are excited and happy. Yeah, man, that's true.

[Paul Pierce]

That's sharp, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, man, how you doing, man? I love the Broncos, I love the Celtics. But there's group that feels some type of way because of who you are. Oh, you think you could talk to my lady? Oh, you could. You know, your lady choosing me, bro. I didn't say anything, but it's that way. And so for me, that's one of the reasons why I was very, very. How I moved. And I didn't really go out. And I only went out. There's one teammate when I was in Denver. If he wasn't going, I wasn't going.

[Paul Pierce]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And we always, we walked in together. We never left separate. When he walked in, I walked in. When I walked out, he walked out.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And I look and I would tell the guys, you know, a lot of times. Cause a lot of guys do feel this way. Truth is that they see somebody, their football player, and they touching somebody. I said, bro, don't do that. I said, you gotta understand, a man gonna fight really, really hard in front of his lady. Cause he not gonna let you plunk it.

[Paul Pierce]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I say, and you don't know what he got on him. So just let that go. Let it go. Hey, you know, add a situation, man, I'm about to fight my own teammate.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He's like, he's touching the girl. He's like, oh, you got something on your back. Oh, he with you.

[Paul Pierce]

I said, oh.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I said, bro. I said, no, no, we not fitting to do that.

[Paul Pierce]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you have to understand. Did you ever go back to that club again?

[Paul Pierce]

No, never again. You know, and if there was some advice that I can give to the young professionals coming to the NBA or coming to the NFL, whatever sports you play, where you at a high level, I would say, like, you know, I was on a young team. I should have got with a vet.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, right away, like, man, you know, I Want to go out with you. I want to kind of see how you. How you move and everything. Because I don't know how to move. I'm still learning how to, you know, make the money and what to do with it when I go out.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What, you 21, 22.

[Paul Pierce]

21, 22 years old. I don't know how to move like that. Yeah. I'm not knowing that. Like, maybe I should get a security guard or a table to help them escort me in a certain different way, you know, and stay with the group, like, you know what I'm saying? So for the young players and the young Hoopers or whoever, you are a successful black athlete who are in the limelight, you know, get with somebody who been there, done that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

Who been around for a minute, though. Not no four or five years. Like somebody 10 years in the game or something.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Understand it.

[Paul Pierce]

That. Understand, like, you got to do it like that and talk to them, you know. So that's what I would say.

[Shannon Sharpe]

From that point on, did it change, like, the type of woman that you dated or the type of woman that you was, like, interested in? Because, you know, sometimes, you know, you like. We like what we like, but sometimes what we like get us in trouble.

[Paul Pierce]

True that. Yeah. But you can't go to the places.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Where they're gonna be it.

[Paul Pierce]

They gonna be it, you know?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I know exactly what you're talking.

[Paul Pierce]

I can't like. I know I like what I like, but if she kick it there, I probably don't need to like her, you know? But if she.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause that ain't no first time, probably.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, exactly like you said. And it's just like, you never know, right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You don't.

[Paul Pierce]

You don't know.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And that's why you need to get with the vet. Cause the vet can pull your coattail. Hey, bro, I know she look good.

[Paul Pierce]

But, hey, she done been around.

[Shannon Sharpe]

She done been blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, so forth and so on. So not put you in harm's way. Cause you know how guys are. You get with somebody, they gonna let you. They ain't gonna tell you at first. They gonna clown you. Yeah, they gonna clown you. I'm just telling you how to be real. Having been a professional athlete and see young guys come in and see this young lady that has dated several guys on the team and maybe one of the nuggets.

[Paul Pierce]

I done seen that. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

But I don't know. Cause I'm not out there like that. So I don't know until you bring her Around. And then when I see, I'm like, bro, bro, what you doing? Nah, man, I got a good girl. Yeah, no, you don't.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But at that point in time, no matter what I think of her or know what she's done, I gotta respect that man's choice. Cause he chose her.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And the last thing I wanna do is cause friction between he and I.

[Paul Pierce]

Right. But you can't let outside interference ruin the locker room. I done seen that, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

For sure. Absolutely. Absolutely.

[Paul Pierce]

So you gotta have that talk, you know, like, come on, man. It'll ruin the locker room if you go that route, you know? And I don't wanna have to break the news to you later, you know? Cause I didn't seen it happen. But the bottom line, you just gotta be careful who you with, where you go, areas you in, what time you in and out. So, you know, I never stay to the end.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no, no, no, no.

[Paul Pierce]

I never stay to the end no more.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm never gonna hear last call. Never, never. You're not gonna be. They not gonna be putting the stools on the bar. All the lights come on so you can really see everybody before. If you stay too long, if they're doing. If they say last call, if they putting the stools on, if the lights come on, you stayed too long, bro.

[Paul Pierce]

Yep. Yep. But there's a lesson to be learned, and I'm happy that. The lesson that I learned, that I'm still here, that I can play the game to the future and the young gentlemen. I'm not saying not to go out and not have fun, enjoy it. You know what I'm saying? Because it comes and goes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

But be careful and be smart.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Be smart. Boston, we had a lot of different stories. I mean, Mr. Russell, Bill Russell wrote a book about what they did to him. He's the winningest sports. I mean, 11 championships in 13 seasons. And everything that he had done, he had fought for the civil rights. I think it was the 67 summit that he was there, and all those guys, and he did that. And I've heard a lot of people come from the outside and say, well, Red Sox fan and Boston fans, they yell this and they yell that. I don't know if I've ever talked to a player that actually played for the Boston team. What is it like playing in Boston? Did you see any of the racism? Did you feel any tension?

[Paul Pierce]

I never had a chance to experience that, Shannon. I think, you know, as fans, sometime when opposite teams come in, you feel.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Like you feel a certain Type of way you feel.

[Paul Pierce]

A certain type of way. You know, Boston is a sports city, and it's hate amongst our fans toward anybody else who ain't Boston.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying? And you might have a guy in there liquored up and, you know, might get outside himself and say the N word or something or whatever. You know, it probably has happened. It's never happened to me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, being that I was a player there, I was loved there in the city. You know, it's times I went to the restaurant, got a standing ovation. I mean, it's a real sports town, but, like, I've never felt, like, the racism and, you know. But, you know, you go back in the day, you know, a lot of the Irish migrated to Boston, and a lot of them was, you know, racist.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

And so I'm sure there was a lot of parts of the city where it's still like that. I just never experienced. Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you didn't go to those parts to try to figure it out if.

[Paul Pierce]

They weren't at the Irish pubs.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right, right, right.

[Paul Pierce]

You know what I'm saying?

[Shannon Sharpe]

You're not going to Charlestown. You're not south.

[Paul Pierce]

Nah. To give them an opportunity to get liquored up and call me up.

[Shannon Sharpe]

How tough was it? You get to the Celtics. You understand the tradition of the Celtics. 60s, they won all the time. The 70s, they won. The 80s, they won. Now you get there, and you guys are struggling. How tough was that to deal with? Because like you said, the Boston fans, they're used to winning championships. They won eight in the 60s, and then they won what they won in the 70s, and they won what they won in the 80s. And now you're in the 90s and the early 2000s, you guys aren't winning championships.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, well, you gotta understand, the support system is amazing. From the former players. Yes, man, that kept my head up. Just Red Auerbach coming in town, going to dinner with him. Like, keep your head up. Giving me a cigar. Bill Russell going to dinner with him. You know what I'm saying? Hanging out with Cedric Maxwell, you know, they came.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Bread be hating. That's my guy. Brad, you be hating, though.

[Paul Pierce]

My man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, man. He a great dude, man.

[Paul Pierce]

Man, that's like my big brother right there. I used to tell him everything. And, you know, just having them around, just like, man, what do I gotta do? You know, I'm talking to Bill, having dinners with him, and just like, man, you just gotta stay on the path and everything. And, you know, they kept my Sanity of not wanting to get traded or go somewhere else. You know, just having those guys around. JoJo White. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, he lived there. He was instrumental to me just keeping my sanity, going through all the losing years. It's just like the family of the Celtic culture kept everything together. And so, you know, that's what I try to bring now with this generation. You know, I try to be there at the games and go to practices and call Jason time and time again, see if they good or, you know, so, you know, I try to just carry on what they was able to do for me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Man, that's awesome. Did you ever think in those years you got drafted in 98 and then it was a long time before you won that championship? Did you ever think you was gonna win a ring?

[Paul Pierce]

True, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause you see Kobe, like, damn, Kobe and Shaq, man, they winning all. Damn. And you see the spurs with Tim Duncan and Manu and Tony Parker, they're winning, man.

[Paul Pierce]

I'm gonna tell you, I didn't think it was gonna happen, shan. Like this 2006.07season when I broke my foot, 30 games in, I believe, and we lost 18 games in a row. Damn. I was just like, damn, we farther off than I thought we was. We more than one piece away.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

So I was like, I didn't think it would happen, you know? So I'm having meetings with ownership, Danny, Doc, like, you know, man, this is the year Kevin Durant coming out. I'm telling you, this dude. We looking at Kevin like, ooh, y' all need to. And we got young Perkins, we got young Al Jefferson, young Tony Allen. Them guys was out of my range, you know, for winning. You know, I gotta wait for them to develop. In four years, I'm gonna be in my 10th year or 12th year. I'm gonna be, like, out of my prime or something. So I didn't think it was gonna happen. But that was the crossroads. That was the crossroads thing. It was like a blessings in disguise that broke my foot that we lost that many games. Because we was immediate. We was at least middle of the road team. We was, like, hovering around.500. But when I broke my foot and we was able to get that draft pick that led to Ray and Kevin, it was like a blessing in the skies. Cause I was ready to. I was ready to go. Wow. Yep, it was.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause you was not good enough to win the championship, but you wasn't bad enough to lose the tank and get. And get a top three, top four pick.

[Paul Pierce]

I'm on losing teams. And I'm still making the All Star Game. Like, you know, I'm sorry. Every year losing teams, and that's hard to do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

On a losing team, still, they like, man, he's in, he's in. But we losing. And so I was just like, man, it ain't gonna happen. But that was the crossroads of the summer to where they supposed to. We was favored to get the number one pick.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

The fifth pick. I had a watch party for the draft. I was like, oh, I'm thinking, like, we get Kevin Durant, I can stick around. Cause this kid gonna turn the franchise around. I could see that we didn't get it. I was like, I thought that was it. I thought I was out of there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

Then they maneuvered, got Ray. I was like, oh, hold on. They just traded for Ray. I know. I'm sticking around. You ain't gonna trade for an older player to not have me.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right?

[Paul Pierce]

So we must be in rumors. Kevin coming, y'. All. We trying to get Kevin. Oh, man, that's all I ever wanted. That's all I ever wanted.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You got ticket. You good now.

[Paul Pierce]

Man, all I ever wanted was just a chance, right? Just give me a chance, you know, like, when you look at the great players, like, Even look at LeBron, he needed Wade and Bosh. Yes. I don't care how great LeBron was.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You ain't winning by yourself.

[Paul Pierce]

It's tough to win by yourself.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It is. You need other players you can win.

[Paul Pierce]

But winning a championship, Win a championship, right. You gotta have another great player, you know? And so it was a blessing in disguise. And, you know, the rest was history.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Is it true that you demanded to be traded to the Mavericks?

[Paul Pierce]

I actually was in the club that summer and ran into Mark Cuban and Dirk partying. Went to their section and I was like telling my agent, I want to go play them. Because that year. Oh, yes. So that year, they was a 50 win team. I think they was the number one seed in the West. And they lost the first round.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

So I was just like, this is perfect.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's the year they lost to the warriors, wasn't it?

[Paul Pierce]

Yes. So I was like. I thought it was lined up. I was like, ooh, they prime. They can win it. They need if they get me. Cause they already really good. Yeah, we can win it. So my mind was like, ooh, I'm all dirt knee. So I'm like, I'm trying to line that up. Like, ooh, if I can get to Dallas, they already good. I can give them that extra dog. They need. But it didn't work out. And then the Celtics did what they did, Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Is it true that you and Kobe had a bet that who was gonna get traded first?

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, we did. How you know about that?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn, that's crazy.

[Paul Pierce]

We was at UCLA playing pickup game, right? And this was the same year. We both garbage. We both won the lottery. We had ucla, we playing against each other. Then it was like the runs was over. So, you know, he sitting on the sideline, I was like, man, we weak. He was like, yeah, I'm trying to get out of there. I think he was talking about Chicago.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, he almost got dealt in Chicago.

[Paul Pierce]

I think he was talking. That's how me. And he was talking. Cause we used to play in the summer. And he was like, man, I'm gonna get out. He was like, I'm outta here. I said, I'm outta there, too. And then we was like, I bet I'll get out of there before you. He was like, on the sideline, chopping it up like that. Cause we was so bad the year before. And then the crazy part about it, that next year, we in a championship. Against each other.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Against each other.

[Paul Pierce]

Ain't that crazy?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause that's what they got. Pow, right?

[Paul Pierce]

Yep. Yep. The summer before, we both was starting. We was outta there. Outta there. Yep.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Do you believe had they not gotten pow, had you not got Ray and Ticket, you'd have left.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, 100%. 100%. It was. The marriage would have been over. It was just too. It would have been too frustrating. I wasn't gonna be happy. It would have got to the point to where I probably would have forced my way. It would have went boiling over.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, you get Ticket, you get Ray. How are you guys able to blend it? Cause it. Normally, it takes. Normally it takes time for a team. You guys have never played together. Maybe you played with Ray when he was in Milwaukee, and y' all was in the All Star Game together, But Ticket was always in the West. I know you had a relationship with Ticket when he was in the McDonald's All American game, but you guys had never played together. How was Doc able to mesh you guys? Those. A lot of big personalities now that you gotta mesh together. That's a lie. You gotta break it to a locker room.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah. I'll tell you one thing. Doc is great at that, man. What Doc first did. When we first did the press conference, man, we went on a duckboat ride, just us three, us four. We went around the city, and we was just talking to Doc, like, how we gonna make this work, you know? Cause everybody. It was a lot of speculation that I was gonna be the. Ah, man. That I was gonna be the egotistical one. Yeah. Out of everybody. And Paul is. He's gonna be selfish. He ain't gonna work with them. It was a lot of people saying that. And I was just like. All I ever wanted was some other.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Things with an opportunity.

[Paul Pierce]

Opportunity. But I will tell you, like, Kevin. Kevin, he was the lead dog in all this, you know, to be honest. Cause Kevin is the most selfless superstar ever in history.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Paul Pierce]

He came in and was just like, paul, this is your team. I just here to help. I was just like, damn. Cause I was thinking like, man, Kevin's the man you talking about.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The guy that's the mvp.

[Paul Pierce]

The mvp. He just was like, p, this your squad. I just want to help win a championship, man. I ain't trying to step on no toes. Everybody dropped their egos at the door. But the thing is, we all had previous relationships. Whether it was me with Kevin, Kevin with Ray, Kevin with both of us. And that whole summer, we talked on the phone every day.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow.

[Paul Pierce]

Called Kevin. Hey, let's book Ray in. Boom, man. Let's get to Boston early, man. We gonna do this, man. We was making summer plans to win the championship the summer before. That's how we was talking. Say, man, we gonna win it together. And then when we win it, we gonna go to Italy. That's the conversation we had. We gonna go here. I'm telling you, we was already seen it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, y' all was already locked in like that.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, we seen it. We was like, man, we gonna win this. And of course, everybody. We on the COVID of every magazine I'm talking about. People hated that, right? Oh, man. The teams across the league, like, they ain't won nothing yet. Why y' all crowning? But. But it was like the Holy Trinity. It just came together right away. So, man, it was just. It was crazy. I couldn't believe. When you look back at it now, it do take time to come together. It came right together. Like, day one, we got out the gate, like, seven and O came out, like, didn't have no issues. You know what our first issue was? The first round of the playoffs. Like, when we went to Game 7 with the Hawks, that was our first adversity. We had no adversity throughout the whole year. We came out just smacking teams, like, out the gate. First adversity was in the playoffs. That's when we started learning more. Game seven, first round, second round game seven again, versus LeBron.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

Like, man, we like, oh, damn.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Once you guys got past that, you.

[Paul Pierce]

Like, we gonna win the championship 100%. Once we got past that young bull, I was like, it was all downhill, but then you think that, like, you get Detroit, but then you gotta run into the Mamba.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Paul Pierce]

That's why it's hard to win.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

It's hard to win a chip. Shannon, you know this.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. For sure. The hardest thing to do is win in professional sports and then win consistently.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause you can have a little success, and sometimes a little success goes to people head.

[Paul Pierce]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because the hardest. You know, I remember we won the first Super Bowl. Gary Kubiak, who was our offensive coordinator, he called me. Now he's 84. He said, you know what? Congratulations. He congratulated his last. He said, you know the hardest thing to do? He says to repeat. I said, why you say that?

[Paul Pierce]

Cool.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He says, because everybody thinks they're the reason why they won. He said, the people that cut the grass out there, the reason why you won is because look at who we cut that grass. The people that craft services that bring the food, it's them. It's the people that clean. It's them. Everybody thinks they're the reason why.

[Paul Pierce]

Yes, yes. And.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And that's not it.

[Paul Pierce]

We saw that on our team, you know, and you see it, like, once you win it, people think they can do more. They didn't do more before. You know what I'm saying? Yep. Like, you saw that, huh? Yes, we saw that, too. Cause people wanted more of a role now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Paul Pierce]

They went from like, nah, I wanna. Nah, I wanna. You know, I'm making the fries. I wanna make the burgers now. Yeah. Hey, like, nah, nah, nah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't wanna make no fry. I want to be cashier. I don't need to be mad at how they can't grief popping on me.

[Paul Pierce]

Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I want to be. And who was that? The cashier. Now they want to be a manager.

[Paul Pierce]

Right? Right Now. You like? Come on, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Absolutely.

[Paul Pierce]

This is why it worked. This is why, you know, this is why this system worked. Cause you was doing that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The super team. You guys were. Some people don't want to say it, but you guys were a super team. Cause Ray was a perennial all Star for sure. Ticket was a perennial all star and an mvp. You were a perennial all Star.

[Paul Pierce]

Yep.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I would consider that a super team. Did you consider it a super team at the time?

[Paul Pierce]

The way we was flying in these cities, in our hotels, it was packed outside Felt like it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's what I do. We were super team.

[Paul Pierce]

Hey, look, that's what I do. I didn't know at first, but when we landed in certain cities and that crowd be out there in front of that hotel. Yeah, we was super team.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But you know what? And what irks me is that I'm old enough to remember is that seems like fans are okay. If a team put a super team together, they've always been super teams. What the hell you think the 80 Lakers were?

[Paul Pierce]

Yep.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What do you think the 80 Celtics were?

[Paul Pierce]

Sixes.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They were super teams.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, they were.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They took a had burn. I mean, think about it. Bird is the 50th anniversary team. So is Kevin McHale and so is Robert Parrish. They had Dennis Johnson.

[Paul Pierce]

Yep. They had Tiny Archibald, five Hall of Famer.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They had Bill Walton. Look at the Lakers. Kareem Magic, worthy, wilts Bob McAdoo.

[Paul Pierce]

Yup.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I don't know if y' all notice anything, all those guys in the hall of Fame. So they were a super team. They've always been super team. Go back and look at the 60 Celtics. They had 11 hall of Famers of 13 guys. Look at the Lakers. So they've always been that. It's just that guys now have better relationships. They grew up like you and Kevin. They play AAU ball together. They're comfortable playing. Well, Bird would have never wanted to play with Magic. Well, Bird didn't have a relationship since he was 9, 10 years old with Magic. So the only time they saw each other maybe was the McDonald's All America or once they got to the NBA.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, but I think the problem what people have with the super teams today or whenever, you know, Kevin and LeBron, is how they came together.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Paul Pierce]

You know, like ours was manufactured. It wasn't like, hey, Kev, come play with me, or Ray, you know, it was Danny maneuvering the trades, and hopefully things had to.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, everybody ain't got Danny Ainge, though.

[Paul Pierce]

They had to have the right pieces and all of that. And so I think people kind of frown upon, like, you know, Bron going there and Durant going. You know where he went. But, you know, you gotta have other great players to win.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You got to.

[Paul Pierce]

You got to just think about it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

The Lakers won the NBA title and got the number one pick in the draft. So just imagine if y' all done won the title and you'll get the next year, y' all get the number.

[Paul Pierce]

One pick in the draft. Right? Right.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They won the NBA title and got James Worthy. How is that for you.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah. I don't know how they was maneuvering back then. Jerry Buster and Red R back. I don't know how they was maneuvering. They was. They was running the league. Huh.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because, you know, back then, you could, like, declare for the draft and then. And go back. Larry Bird declared for the draft and went back.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So that's how the Celtics kept his right. The Celtics kept his right.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right. So just think about it. Be like, yeah, nah, I'm going back to school. And they still got your rates. Right. So it was. And back then, you know, they had territorial rights. So you come out, you go into a city that was close by, you. There's a lot of things that if they were to do that now, people lose their mind.

[Paul Pierce]

Yeah, there was some things. Now, it was some chess going on back then, for sure. And that's why the league grew to what it grew into.

[Shannon Sharpe]

This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two is also posted, and you can access it to whichever place, podcast platform you just listen to part one on. Just simply go back to Club Shayshay profile and I'll see you there.