Paul Pierce’s life almost ended on a fateful night in Boston over 20 years ago. On September 25, 2000, Pierce was stabbed 11 times at the Buzz Club, a nightclub, and he spoke on that infamous incident during his appearance on the Draymond Green Show.
Paul Pierce: “I don’t even know how I’m alive truthfully when I look back at it. I’m a true believer in God. He knows what your time is and it wasn’t my time… I talked about the incident and being in the club, being stabbed by like multiple men and three different knives and well people don’t know I played because I played through pain.”
Pierce said playing basketball was the only thing that gave him peace.
Paul Pierce: “Being on the court was the only thing that gave me peace. Because I’m traumatized, I’m in my house, I’m scared but at the same time, I’m paranoid. I can’t sleep. I had to wear like a vest. This is what people don’t know, I had to wear a vest underneath my uniform.”
The 46-year-old revealed the vest was to protect his body as he had returned to the court before he had fully healed.
Paul Pierce: “So, I disobey doctor’s orders, I practice before I was supposed to practice. I wore like a damn near bulletproof vest or whatever kind of vest they got for me and I just played through it until I healed and I really didn’t heal until after the season.”
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Despite having not healed completely, Pierce managed to play all 82 games in the 2000-01 season and he averaged 25.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game for the Boston Celtics. He also played 38 minutes a game, which is just absurd.
Green then wondered how Pierce managed to stay in Boston for another 10 years or so after the incident. The Hall of Famer revealed he surrounded himself with friends and family, who looked out for him at all times.
Pierce added that even with them around him, it took him years to be comfortable going to a restaurant. He also started getting anxious around crowds as he struggled mentally following the incident.
Pierce had reportedly gotten into an altercation with the brother of a woman he was speaking to at the club that night. He ended up getting stabbed multiple times in the neck, chest, and back and also had a bottle smashed on his head.
Tony Battie, who was his teammate at the time, and Battie’s brother saved Pierce’s life by rushing him to a hospital nearby. He had to undergo lung surgery to repair the damage and while he recovered physically, he didn’t recover from a mental standpoint. He, just like anyone else, was severely traumatized after such an incident.
Pierce stated that what helped him a lot was he eventually started talking about it instead of holding it all inside him. It was certainly the right thing to do and Pierce would eventually go on to have a fantastic NBA career.
He would play 19 seasons in the league and had averages of 19.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game. Pierce was also a 10-time All-Star who won an NBA championship and Finals MVP in 2008.
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