Paul Pierce isn’t just another Boston Celtics legend. He’s the star who carried that franchise through some of its darkest years and delivered Banner 17 in 2008.
But there is a chapter of his story that goes beyond basketball, one that could have ended everything before it really got started.
In September 2000, Pierce was stabbed at the Buzz Club in Boston’s Theater District. Players throw around the idea of the NBA being a battlefield all the time. For Pierce, it got real. The attack left him dealing with fear and paranoia during one of the hardest stretches of his life.
Years later, on a recent episode of the “No Fouls Given” podcast, a fan asked him why he stayed in Boston after going through something that traumatic in that city.
“I always felt like you can’t run from like, issues. If you got issues, there gonna be issues no matter where you at,” Pierce said. “And I love the city. I love the support I got from the organization after. I didn’t want to leave my teammates, and I felt like we had some of a future we can build on, and I just was just like, man, it just felt right.
“You know, if you get traded somewhere or want to be somewhere else, you know, anything can happen. I just was like, you know what, this is where I want to be. I’m not going to run from it. It was an isolated incident. I feel it wasn’t like I had beef in the streets. So, I was just like, you know. I’m here to stick it out.”
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