By Chaitanya Dadhwal Fadeaway World
LeBron James and Kevin Durant recently went viral after James released the ‘Mind the Game’ podcast episode with Durant’s appearance. In this podcast episode, they discussed several aspects of the NBA, like the evolution of basketball and Durant’s time in 2012 with the current reigning NBA champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
At the beginning of the episode, James called Durant arguably the “most equipped” scorer in NBA history. Paul Pierce, James’ former rival who played for the Celtics most of his career, seemed to disagree with him about this. He went on Fox Sports’ “Speak” show and expressed his opinion about what James said. Most NBA fans did not agree with Pierce and let their opinions be heard on social media.
“He鈥檚 not even a top 50 scorer of all time.”
“Paul Pierce was also a better shooter than Curry, a better post player than Hakeem, a better defender than Rodman, and a better player than LeBron, Kobe, and MJ combined. Oh, and he could beat Usain Bolt in a 100m and Phelps in the 200m butterfly. Did I miss anything?” said an NBA fan who indirectly accused Pierce of hyper-inflating his own skills while comparing anyone to himself.
“This dude thinks he鈥檚 better than D Wade.”
“Paul Pierce gotta stop this sh** man.”
Several such reactions flooded social media after Pierce made his claim on TV. Fans could not believe that Pierce felt this way about his abilities.
“I want whatever he’s smoking lmaoo”
“Paul Pierce also thinks he was the best shooter, best distributor, and best role guy in the history of the NBA. LOL Come on man…”
“Can someone please drug test Paul Pierce?”
“This dude keeps lying to himself lol”
“For a guy nicknamed The Truth, he sure does f**king lie a lot.”
What Did Paul Pierce Say About Kevin Durant?
During the episode, James referred to Durant as the “most equipped” scorer in NBA history. Pierce took this comment personally and claimed he also belongs in the same conversation as Kevin Durant in terms of ‘pure-scoring’.
“I was probably the best pure scorer in the history of the game, because I was pretty equipped. I’m just saying, I need to be in this conversation… I must’ve been one of the most equipped.”
“I think when he talks about him, he talks about efficiency. Cause I shot more bad shots than Kevin… but Kevin, because he’s seven feet, he can get his shot off on anybody. He doesn’t really see defense, you know what I’m saying? That’s why he’s so efficient; there’s nobody at his height on the perimeter. He changed the way you look at perimeter; he pretty much changed the game on the perimeter. Like being a seven-foot two-guard?”
“Like, come on, the biggest two-guard when I came in was 6’5 or 6’6… he’s a center playing at the point guard, two-guard. All his match-ups and the way he shoots the ball and gets to the hole, he is efficient with it. So I can see why LeBron would say that, but you got to put me in that talk when you talk about the most-equipped scorers, man.”
Never once in his career did Pierce win the NBA scoring title. Meanwhile, Durant has four of them (2010-12, 2014), which is tied for third all-time in most scoring titles after Michael Jordan (10) and Wilt Chamberlain (7). Only Allen Iverson and George Gervin are the two players who have as many scoring titles as Durant.
James and Pierce were fierce rivals when Pierce was still in the league. They faced each other in 69 games, 39 in the regular season and 30 in the Playoffs. While Pierce led the regular season battle 21-18, James led the Playoff record 17-13. With 35 wins over Pierce’s 34, James won the matchup purely in terms of games played.
James also had a rivalry with Durant during his Warriors stint, especially. They faced each other 43 times in their career, where James won the regular season series (19-10) but Durant won in the playoff series (9-5).
Since James has seen both these players and faced them at the highest level, his opinion seems to be more all-encompassing and is not biased in any manner. I agree with James that Durant is the ‘most-equipped’ scorer, probably in NBA history.