Paul Pierce takes a swipe at ESPN and Lebron

doubledragon

Paul Pierce takes shot at ESPN for love of LeBron James

Former Boston Celtics player Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce finally spoke out on his firing from ESPN and threw a stray at LeBron James in the process.

The retired former All-Star spoke with Chris Mannix of SI this week. In the interview, Pierce opened up about his Instagram Live video that led to his termination by ESPN as well as his issues with the network.

“I was done with them, anyway,” said Pierce. “It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time."

“Come on, I didn’t do anything illegal,” Pierce went on.

Mannix’s story also adds that the relationship between Pierce and ESPN had been strained for the last two years prior to the video, which featured Pierce playing poker at a friend’s house while drinking, smoking and mingling with strippers. Pierce hated the travel involved with his job at ESPN, and network executives did not think he was working hard enough. The video was reportedly the last straw for the network.

The 43-year-old Pierce, who had been working as an NBA analyst for ESPN, got fired in April. He has since taken other public shots at his ex-employer.

As for James, he was Pierce’s longtime rival in the Eastern Conference. This is obviously far from the first time that ESPN has gotten criticized for its perceived over-coverage of The King.

perkdog

I didn’t think Pierce did anything wrong at all. He is an adult, alcohol, Weed and strippers is not illegal and it’s none of ESPN’s business what he does on his personal time as long as it’s not illegal activity

doubledragon

I don't watch ESPN and I didn't realize they force you to talk about LeBron James all the time, that is ridiculous.

craig44

just another reason for people to turn off espn

thisistheshow

@craig44 said:
just another reason for people to turn off espn

........
And it's crazy because, as has been discussed before, ESPN was great back in the day. In the mid 90s I felt like it was amazing. Obviously those were very different times. ESPN was extremely unique, it was before the internet era.

blurryface

free country & bishop sycamore. enough said.

keets

I don't watch ESPN and I didn't realize they force you to talk about LeBron James all the time, that is ridiculous.

because they don't. Pierce was a good enough player but this comes across as resentment and jealousy.

perkdog

@doubledragon said:
I don't watch ESPN and I didn't realize they force you to talk about LeBron James all the time, that is ridiculous.

Lebron is the biggest name in the NBA, of course they promote discussion surrounding his name, anyone that thinks otherwise don’t have clue #1 about TV/Radio sports talk

doubledragon

Wait just a minute, this is a Lebron James thread, you must talk about Lebron James, anyone who has posted on this thread without mentioning Lebron's name is fired from this thread!

erikthredd

I don't watch ESPN through cable but I do watch close to 100 Regular/Playoffs/Summer/Preseason NBA games online that are aired on ESPN and its been non-stop about how great Lebron is ever since the Warriors broke up/dealt with injuries and he signed in LA to the point its just annoying. I'm only watching pre-game shows and the actual games and the few times I caught Sportscenter it was even worse.
We get that he's great but they have to kiss his ass everytime his name gets mentioned. Then they hit you with his commercials when they go to a break, airing his Space Jam 2 trailer literally every single commercial break back during the playoffs. I can just imagine how much worse it could have been had his team not been knocked out in the first round.

erikthredd

We all know Paul Pierce likes taking his digs at Lebron but he's on a very,very small list of NBA players in history that beat both Lebron & Kobe in the same postseason on the way to winning a Finals MVP. Its just Pierce & DIrk Nowitzki.

Pierce can say what he wants about working for ESPN but he was really working for Disney and they can't publicly condone gambling,blunts & strippers even though they're all legal.

doubledragon

Yeah.

perkdog

@doubledragon said:
Yeah.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂