In the latest episode of KG Certified, Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce slammed two-time NBA champion Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers for his unavailability in recent years while working with former Celtics teammate Kevin Garnett spoke.
“We don’t hold Kawhi accountable enough because of the status he has,” Pierce said. “We mention him in the same breath as LeBron, KD when he’s at his best, but then we talk about Anthony Davis being unavailable. We’re going to put Kawhi in this group because we’re thinking about his last four or five years. He missed about two seasons, is always out, didn’t really get a lot of games together, but we never talk about that.
Pierce added that he believes there is something physically wrong with Leonard, affecting his long-term availability, which is difficult given Pierce’s praise for Leonard’s ability as a basketball player.
“I really believe there’s something wrong with Kawhi in the long run,” Pierce said. “We don’t say anything about the fact that he always wears street clothes. How much of Kawhi have we seen? We love seeing Kawhi. At his peak, he’s one of the best in the league. We want to catch him on the court with this Clipper team. Think of a healthy Clipper team with Kawhi with the talent they have.
Pierce played for the Clippers from 2015 to 2017 before retiring from the NBA.
Pierce and Garnett also spoke about the drama with the Brooklyn Nets regarding their coaching situation with Steve Nash.
“The writing was on the wall when Nash was fired,” Pierce said. “Having that kind of talent on your team. Being a first-year coach comes with a lot of pressure, but then, to his credit, think about it. He was only allowed to play with Kyrie and KD like a full strength squad, they only played 15-16 games together and you got fired. But at the end of the day, if anyone is going to be the scapegoat, it will be the coach rather than the player.”
Pierce added that Brooklyn’s troubles stemmed from what was going on with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
“I think with Brooklyn, there are just so many distractions in the organization that have nothing to do with basketball,” Pierce said. “If you’re talking about KD wanting to get out of there or the things that Kyrie is dealing with off the court. There are too many distractions for them to get together, so how can they even focus on trying to be a contender? Because when you put two guys of that caliber on a team, you expect expectations, but there’s just too many other things going on to exaggerate.”
Pierce and Garnett played together for the Nets in the 2013-14 season while playing for Jason Kidd, a former player-turned-coach.
To ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Nets had fired Nash, Pierce tweeted that Brooklyn’s poor start led to Nash’s firingalthough he seemed intrigued that former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka stepped in as Nash’s replacement.
