Kobe, Kevin Garnett And The Basketball World Paid Tribute To Paul Pierce’s Legendary Career


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In 1998, the Boston Celtics took Paul Pierce with the 10th pick in the NBA Draft. Nineteen years and more than 26,000 points later, and Pierce’s career came to an end on Sunday as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers.

It was the end of a career that will almost certainly lead to a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame. But that’s not going to happen for a few years. In the meantime, the basketball world decided to come together and look back on the career of one of the best scorers of his generation. First and foremost, there was this video from The Players’ Tribune, which featured a number of people paying tribute to Pierce.

The two best quotes from this video come by way of Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. Pierce’s former Celtics teammate lovingly said “Sometimes I would think that I was over the top until I saw him. And I thought, ‘Ok, so this is what a beast is.’”

As for Kobe, he recalled playing hoops with Pierce when the two were younger.

“It was just a pick-up game in the summer at UCLA,” Bryant said. “But honestly, I don’t remember. I really don’t remember who won that pick-up game. But I do remember competing against him and saying, ‘Man, this guy is … this guy is gonna be a problem.’”

Some other basketball players took to Twitter to praise The Truth.

As for Pierce, he took to Twitter to pour his heart out.

Whether it is on the basketball court or on Twitter, Paul Pierce is a legend.