Kendrick Perkins Reveals Paul Pierce vs LeBron James Beef Started With Spitting Incident

A lot of basketball fans have talked about the Paul Pierce vs LeBron James debate. Their rivalry has made some of the hottest headlines in the past decade, and let’s just say that the whole thing started in 2004. Kendrick Perkins knows that LeBron and Pierce don’t like each other, and he also knows what triggered this feud.

Pierce was the last to fire a shot at LeBron, saying that he doesn’t deserve a spot in the top 5 NBA players. This comment triggered an avalanche of reactions, and Perkins shared his take. He talked to Cassidy Hubbarth and Amin Elhassan from ESPN, and shared details of the story. Perkins talked about the spark that led to the rivalry.

According to him, Pierce didn’t like the “Chosen One” talk about LeBron. King James brought a fresh energy in the NBA, and everyone was talking about him. This didn’t sit well with Pierce, and something terrible happened during a preseason game in 2004. What did the Boston Celtics icon do? He spit towards LeBron’s bench.

“Paul is talking noise to the bench, right?” Perkins said. “He’s talking big noise to the Cavs bench, and they’re sitting over there, Bron and them, they’re all sitting over there. … Paul actually spits over there at the bench, right? The ultimate disrespect.”

The Paul Pierce vs LeBron James feud is still alive

The NBA fined Pierce $15,000 for his comments. Pierce didn’t just spit at the Cavaliers bench. The Cavaliers and Boston Celtics were playing on Ohio State’s campus, and the teams’ locker rooms were pretty close. In 2012, Brian Windhorst reported that Pierce’s teammates had to take him away from LeBron in the hallway after the game. He was about to get in a fight.

Perkins played with Pierce in Boston for many years. He also played with LeBron in Cleveland. They were teammates for a year. According to Perkins, the feud is still alive.

“Ever since that moment,” he said. “LeBron James and Paul Pierce hate each other. They don’t speak to each other. Even now, today.”

We believe LeBron would just ignore the comments Pierce made about him. Maybe he will just take to Twitter and share his thoughts.