"Come to Death Row" - Paul Pierce plugs Kevin Garnett's show while referencing Suge Knight's iconic speech
Paul Pierce was sensationally fired by ESPN in April 2021. The Boston Celtics legend was on Instagram livestream drinking and smoking weed. Worse, he had strippers massaging him and cavorting with him during the said video. The 2008 NBA Finals MVP was married when the IG livestream became viral.
Two years after the network cut its relationship with him, “The Truth” fired back. His former colleagues were covering the James Harden trade on ESPN’s NBA Today when Pierce posted this on Twitter/X:
“Y’all wanna hear us talk about the James Harden trade? I mean, who y’all wanna hear man? Come get our tape this week, me and Ticket [Garnett] or y’all can listen to them talk about this trash.
“You wanna hear some real inside [shit], come to Death Row!”
Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett have a popular podcast called Ticket & Truth on Showtime Basketball. The two developed a close friendship during their years with the Boston Celtics. After he was fired by ESPN, Pierce soon found a place with “KG” in their said show.
Pierce’s exclamation was a reference to Suge Knight’s “Come to Death Row” rant at the 1995 Source Award. Knight was the former co-founder and CEO of Death Row Records. He was convicted of a hit-and-run crime in 2015 and is serving a 28-year imprisonment.
Knight attended the said event in New York City to take a shot at rapper P. Diddy, who is also called Puff Daddy.
“Any artist out there that want to be an artist and stay a star, and don’t have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the record, dancing… come to Death Row!”
Paul Pierce’s imitation didn’t have Suge Knight’s conviction and passion but the reference was understandable. Safe to say there’s no love lost between ESPN and the “Truth.”
Paul Pierce was unapologetic for the viral video that got him fired by ESPN
Paul Pierce joined ESPN in 2017, appearing in both The Jump and NBA Countdown. He earned a roster following his solid work during the 2016 and 2017 NBA Finals. It didn’t take long, though, for the network to limit his role.
Pierce was reportedly unprepared in many of his segments. He was consistently trolled and criticized for some of his analysis. The Instagram video with the strippers was just the last straw.
The former Brooklyn Nets player explained to Sports Illustrated weeks after the firing why his work with ESPN could not have lasted long:
“I was done with them, anyway. It wasn’t a great fit. There’s a lot of stuff over there that you can’t say. And you have to talk about LeBron all the time.”
When asked if he was sorry for the video that created a storm on social media, Pierce bluntly asked:
“For what?”