Paul Pierce once again took a shot at long-time rival LeBron James when he claimed Bron isn’t a top-5 player of all time. Of course, this raised a lot of eyebrows around the league given LeBron’s quality on the court and all the accolades he’s racked up during his career.
We know there is a rivalry between the Truth and the King after their duels in the Eastern Conference playoffs, but according to Kendrick Perkins, the animosity between the two players began when Bron was still a rookie in 2003. During an appearance on ESPN’s Hoop Streams on Wednesday night, Perkins revealed the details of their feud.
“Paul Pierce’s list is personal because — and we don’t talk about this enough — but Paul and Bron have never liked each other since Bron’s rookie year,” Perkins said.
It all happened during a preseason game in 2003. Pierce was trash-talking Bron and his Cavaliers teammates throughout the entire game. At the end of the game, Paul spitted toward the Cavs’ bench, which led to an altercation that could go worse than it was.
“It ended up turning up. After the game, both teams were meeting in the back,” Perkins said. “We had guys ready to fight. We had to hold people back. Guys were ready to fight.
“Ever since that moment, LeBron James and Paul Pierce hate each other,” he added. “They don’t speak together, even now today.”
Pierce recently claimed Bron doesn’t belong on the top 5 players of the all-time list since he didn’t build an organization nor continued its tradition, unlike players such as Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant.
Perkins said the list more personal to Pierce.
“I think Paul’s list is more personal toward LeBron,” Perkins said. “There’s no way in hell you can say LeBron James is not top five. You may not have him as your G.O.A.T., but to not have him in your top five is just crazy.”
Even LeBron haters put him at least as a top 3 player in the history of the game, but not the Truth, who dominated LeBron and his Cavs until he decided to go to Miami and create the famous Big 3 with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.
