You either love or hate Paul Pierce.
If you are a Lakers fan, for obvious reasons, you hate him. If you are a lover of stripper poker weed parties, he is obviously your man.
Whatever the case, he was on with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, and he spoke about the upcoming NBA season and specifically the Lakers.
He said the team is giving him vibes of when they added Gary Payton and Karl Malone back in 2004 to try to create a super-duper team, but it failed because Payton and Malone were past their prime.
“This team is really giving me that Karl Malone, Gary Payton when they were with Kobe [Bryant], that kind of feel,” Pierce said via Lakers Nation.
It should be noted they got all the way to the NBA Finals, and if Malone didn’t get injured, it could have been an entirely different series, so it depends on what your definition of failure really is.
It wasn’t like it didn’t work. It just didn’t finish off its intended goal.
The 2021 Lakers, similar to the 2004 Lakers, have two elite players in LeBron and Anthony Davis, but then they have a bunch of older stars who, while still functional, are nowhere near their prime.
They have started off the season 0-2, and I think it will be a bumpy ride for a while, but the question begs when the playoffs come around, and if they are healthy, would they be a team you want to face.
They will have all that experience from players who aren’t afraid of the big moments, so we shall see.
It is way too early to come to any conclusion. The Lakers could finish as the 8th seed and still make a run at the title because that is how good LeBron and Anthony Davis are.
Do you think Pierce is on to something here or is just talking because he hates the Lakers and LeBron?
Flip the pages for his full comments and the stripper party if you just came for that.