Paul Pierce ‘can’t stand’ Nick Wright

Paul Pierce doesn’t like LeBron James, and he doesn’t like one of LeBron’s biggest media supporters in Nick Wright either.

Wright joined Chris Canty and Maggie Gray this week in calling professional athletes out for bringing their kids to press conferences. This comes on the heels of Joel Embiid being criticized for having his son sit on his lap while taking questions from reporters after the Philadelphia 76ers were swept from the playoffs by the New York Knicks.

Canty accused Embiid of doing it intentionally to avoid tough questions from reporters, while Wright said athletes bringing kids to press conferences should just be banned altogether. Pierce was asked about Wright’s take on a recent episode of No Fouls Given. And while Pierce didn’t have much of an opinion on athletes bringing their kids to press conferences, he did have an opinion to share on Wright. He doesn’t like him.

“First off, Nick Wright says the most ridiculous things. Period. I mean, I’m not a fan. He knows it,” Pierce ranted. “He says some of the most ridiculous things because he’s pissed off. Suddenly, this is something that the players have been doing this for decades. Like decades. Now, it’s a problem when somebody lose and have their kids up there. It’s okay when you win now? A few weeks ago, he called a kid a clown? Like, come on, though. Is this sports reporting? What is this? Like, what really is he talking about? Like seriously, bro. I can’t stand this dude.”

Pierce seems to be referring to Wright calling LaMelo Ball a clown. Harsh analysis? Sure. But LaMelo Ball is 24 years old and a professional athlete, and it’s not like Wright was calling someone’s kid at a press conference a clown.

Again, Wright is not the first person to have this opinion about kids at press conferences. And the opinion is never about the kids; it’s about the athlete, potentially making it harder for reporters to get answers from them.

The question here is whether Pierce really has an issue with Wright calling on players to stop bringing their kids to press conferences, or if he just has an issue with Wright. This isn’t the first time they were at odds with each other. Pierce called Wright out years ago for claiming LeBron was better than Jordan. Wright later called Pierce out for leaving LeBron out of his all-time top 5 NBA players.

Like most sports opinionists, Wright isn’t going to be loved by everyone. But as one of the loudest supporters of LeBron James in sports media, Wright really isn’t going to be loved by Pierce.