Paul Pierce hinted at being the catalyst for LeBron James‘ departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 to spearhead a super team with the Miami Heat.
In James’ sixth season in the NBA, and final one with the Cavs, Cleveland suffered a second-round loss to Pierce and the Celtics in six games. That offseason, James joined forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami where they won two titles as a unit.
Speaking on the Dan LeBatard show, Pierce claimed that his reputation of ‘breaking wills’ caused James to seek help in Miami after besting him the year prior. The statement came after the retired forward was asked if his Celtics team was better than the current roster and defending NBA champions.
‘It’s damn close,’ Pierce opened. ‘I ain’t gonna lie, this team is really good. But I will tell you this; our team, we knew how to break teams mentally. So what we lacked in skill versus them, we had with will.’
‘We’re gonna turn it into a bar fight, you know what I’m saying? This ain’t gonna be finesse, this is gonna be body blow, body blow,’ he added.
Paul Pierce claims that he broke LeBron James’ will and led him to leave Cleveland for Miami
When asked whose will he would break on the current roster, Pierce claimed that Kevin Garnett would break Al Horford mentally.
He then added the statement about James without dropping a name. While former center Zydrunas Ilgauskas followed James from Ohio to South Beach, the likelihood of him being the center of the reference is close to none.
‘Listen, when you start getting guys in foul trouble in the first quarter, I’ve [been] known to break a few wills, you know, sent some of them from Cleveland to Miami,’ Pierce claimed.
Pierce won the title with the Celtics in 2008, two years before James’ monumental move to the Heat. After winning a pair of rings in Miami, James returned to Cleveland and won a title before moving out to Los Angeles and winning another with the Lakers.
This would not be the first time Pierce made an eyebrow-raising claim about the Miami Heat super team. In 2019, he claimed to have a better career than Wade, a three-time NBA champion.
Pierce won his lone NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008 and retired in 2017
The Celtics bested James and the Cavaliers in 2009 before his monumental move to the Heat
‘That’s easy. I can say that off the bat, that’s me,’ Pierce said on ESPN. ‘I’m 24 or 25, and you give me LeBron James and Chris Bosh, I’d be sitting on five or six championships, easy.’
‘For a long time, my skills went unappreciated because I didn’t get to play with a lot of great players. And then I got to play with KG (Kevin Garnett) and Ray [Allen] past their prime,’ he added. ‘Four years earlier, you put me, Ray, and KG together–you think we’re not walking away with three chips?’
‘He got more accolades than me. Yeah, he got three championships, I got one. If you need a bucket down the stretch, who [do] you want– Wade or me? If you wanna win the game down the stretch– who [are] you giving the ball to?’
Pierce joined the Nets, Wizards, and Clippers and hung his shoes up with 10 All-Star appearances and four All-NBA selections in 2017.