Paul Pierce was a hated rival of the Los Angeles Lakers for a long time as a member of the Boston Celtics. Pierce and Boston’s Big 3 had two epic battles against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers that produced one of the best NBA Finals in league history.
Pierce has been critical of the Lakers in his post-playing days, especially as it pertains to LeBron James. James and Pierce certainly had a rivalry in his playing days and that rivalry seemingly bled into Pierce’s retirement.
However, Pierce recently came to the defense of the Lakers, and in particular, Anthony Davis. Davis is known as one of injury prone players in the league and receives a lot of criticism for it, even earning the nickname “street clothes” from the NBA on TNT folks.
Pierce has a problem with the flak that Davis has received in his NBA career as it pertains to another Los Angeles superstar, Kawhi Leonard. Pierce recently let his opinion be known and he certainly has a good point.
"How we talk about Anthony Davis not being available, we don't put Kawhi in that group… We don't say nothing about him always being in street clothes."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 5, 2022
Paul Pierce on Kawhi Leonard
(via @shobasketball)pic.twitter.com/q7KL2K9Lhg
Ouch. Pierce is not wrong at all, though. The Los Angeles Clippers invested all of these resources into Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and now Leonard’s future is uncertain. The Clippers already two potential title-winning years fall short because of Leonard’s knee, and with how this season is going, it could be a third.
Anthony Davis has at least won a championship with the Lakers, something Kawhi Leonard hasn’t done in LA.
As far as we are concerned, Leonard should get more criticism for his injuries than Davis does. Yes, Kawhi is one of the best players on the planet and he has won more championships overall than Davis, but Davis has at least won a title in Los Angeles.
Heck, when you compare AD to other stars in the league it becomes clear that he gets targeted for something that is more of a widespread NBA narrative. Davis has played more games since joining the Lakers than the likes of Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Paul George. Yet AD is the injury-prone one.
The Lakers obviously need AD to stay healthy if they are going to make any kind of noise this season and it is true that fans want to see him on the court more than he has been in recent years.
3 Lakers (not named Russell Westbrook) that could be traded this season
Most of the Lakers trade talks have been about Russell Westbrook but there are other players on the roster that could be moved.
But for him to become this figurehead for missing basketball games? That is just unfair to the guy who was just the best player on a title-winning team two years ago.