Former Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce squashes a mortifying longtime NBA rumor in an exclusive interview with The Athletic.
It’s the biggest scandal that ever rocked the NBA, and it stained Paul Pierce’s legacy.
(And his pants).
All jokes aside, it turns out that these jokes no longer fly anymore, as Pierce has finally spoken on the moment that tarnished his legacy during the 2008 NBA Finals.
Pierce is a Hall of Fame small forward who helped the Celtics during their championship run and beyond, earning an MVP in the Finals as his team defeated the Lakers in six games.
But during Game 1 of the Finals, Pierce suffered what seemed to be a serious knee injury before reemerging with a knee brace just two minutes later. It was a puzzling moment, one that Pierce finally clarified on NBA Countdown in 2019.
Pierce admitted that he actually “just had to go to the bathroom.” When Chauncey Billups asked for clarification, Pierce reiterated, “Ah, something went down and I had to go to the bathroom.”
Eventually, Pierce had to defend himself on Twitter against the natural conclusion fans reached: there was never a knee injury; Pierce just defecated on himself and needed to be escorted away in a wheelchair.
At the time, NBA journalist Michelle Beadle called Pierce a “liar”, and funnily enough, she broke the story two years later as Pierce finally explored the poop theory.
Paul Pierce on wheelchair poop story: ‘You don’t sit down on your poop, right?’
Pierce’s interview with The Athletic consisted of a lot more than scatological conspiracy theories. Pierce also touched on the IG live scandal that cost him his job at ESPN, as well as LeBron James’ place in NBA history.
Pierce had more spicy commentary when speaking with Beadle, firing back at younger critics who disagreed with his inclusion on the NBA 75 list.
“This new generation is pretty dumb. They don’t do their research,” Pierce said. “They listened to some of the stuff I said on TV about LeBron and Dwyane Wade and all that and they don’t understand that’s just TV. I got a lot of hate off of that. If they really did their research, they would know.”
And because of Pierce’s sound reasoning, now we all know: there’s no way he pooped his pants during the Finals and sat in it.
Right?