Former NBA great Paul Pierce was fired on his day off.
ESPN sacked the former Boston Celtics champion the first business day after he posted a live video of himself smoking a marijuana joint while having women in string bikinis twerk for the camera on Friday night, April 2, 2021.
ESPN is owned by Disney. Therefore, there was a wide assumption over the weekend that there would be some fallout for Pierce’s actions. He appeared high in the video and even asked a woman to come over to “make some money.”
ESPN never made an official statement, but Pierce’s firing was reported by Front Office Sports reporter Michael McCarthy.
BREAKING: ESPN and NBA Legend Paul Pierce have parted ways, according to sources.
Pierce posted videos of himself with exotic dancers on Instagram Live Friday night. Pierce has played a key role on 'NBA Countdown' + other ESPN basketball programming.
ESPN declined to comment.
— Michael McCarthy (@MMcCarthyREV) April 5, 2021
Pierce played 19 seasons in the NBA, most of them with the Celtics where he took the team to two NBA Finals, winning one championship in 2008 over Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers.
After Pierce retired following the 2016-17 season, he almost immediately became a regular contributor for several ESPN shows, most frequently on “The Jump” and “NBA Countdown.”
In a related matter, Pierce is expected to be inducted on his first nomination into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, this year.
He had subjected himself to social media scrutiny on previous occasions after seemingly throwing shade at former adversary LeBron James. He was also torched on Twitter when he claimed his career was superior to Dwyane Wade’s, something with which most fans and sports pundits adamantly disagreed.
Following his termination from ESPN, the self-confident Pierce took to his Twitter account to indicate that is still winning notwithstanding the personal scandal.
I can’t lose even when I lose I’m winning 🤔🤔😳😃😃😃
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) April 6, 2021
One fan tried to remind Pierce that former sitcom superstar Charlie Sheen once made similar pronouncements before his precipitous fall from grace.
Remember when Charlie sheen said he was winning at life. See how fast things spiraled out of control for him after that. This comment sounds a lot like that.
— Joshua polk (@Joshuapolk8) April 6, 2021
Undeterred, Pierce told his fans that he’s going to be good moving forward.
Big Things coming soon stay tuned make sure u smile #Truthshallsetufree pic.twitter.com/YIaJMcNQoH
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) April 5, 2021
