On a night when LeBron James put himself on top of the NBA’s scoring mountain, surpassing the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, you’d expect people like his sons Bronny and Bryce to pridefully celebrate the moment. After all, they are his family. (You would’ve hoped the same of a teammate in Anthony Davis.)
One person we probably didn’t expect to celebrate James’ extraordinary record mark was Paul Pierce — his former longtime rival, most notably with the Boston Celtics. After James officially got the accomplishment, Pierce fired off a tweet where, among other things, he actually called the Los Angeles Lakers’ star the greatest of all time.
It was admittedly a little weird to see from someone like Pierce!
Honor to say I had a chance to match up with The GaoT I’ve alway never acknowledged u as King but u Truly the King #lRespect no player in NBA History had the pressure coming in the league to exceed expectations not only have u live up to it but u have surpassed it #allhailtheKing
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) February 8, 2023
After Pierce received a ton of confused feedback to his initial tweet, he clarified that James getting the all-time scoring record also made him “underrated.”
Y’all gotta understand This make me underrated now 😂😂😂😂😂🙏🏾😂😂🙏🏾😂
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) February 8, 2023
While Pierce is another great, I’m not sure how much that particular “underrated” thought has merit. That said, even if the tweets were a little weird, it was still really cool to see him celebrating James.
NBA fans had lots of thoughts about Pierce's weird tweets about James
Lol Paul Pierce called LeBron the goat. It’s over for y’all. https://t.co/bQoj05I6FN
— 🎗NBA•Fan🎗 (@Prime_LeBron23) February 8, 2023
Wow. I respect @paulpierce34 to the fullest for this. I know where he has stood with Bron for a long time. For The Truth to see him as the GOAT is insane, but gives so much more credence to the facts. It’s amazing to see. https://t.co/7h0rqFXIyC
— AEON. (@AeonScriptz) February 8, 2023
Hell just done froze over https://t.co/6Vb5NBTrPJ
— elijah (@LeBrijah) February 8, 2023
this that part from dbz when vegeta was finally acknowledging goku was him https://t.co/QulZN7eVM3
— Dom2K (Celtics Expert)🎆 (@Dom_2k) February 8, 2023
This man is being held hostage. This ain’t him https://t.co/LA74BPqpUi
— Josh Eberley 🇨🇦 (@JoshEberley) February 8, 2023
Never thought I’d see the day where Paul pierce gives @KingJames his 💐 https://t.co/TqdDl0mjml
— Evan Shook (@EvanShook2) February 8, 2023
This is how you know LeBron ended the goat debate man, his most hated rivals are saying this https://t.co/Th4tLqqtYj
— Carlos 🟠 (@CarlosBerkley) February 8, 2023
Paul Pierce showing some love for his long time rival https://t.co/HXfd14gEt7
— CelticsLife.com (@celticslife) February 8, 2023
Thank you for admitting it Paul https://t.co/BDuQmjSgM4
— Andrew (@AndrewChacey) February 8, 2023
