{"id":776314,"date":"2026-07-21T18:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/776314\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T18:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T18:24:18","slug":"paul-pierce-says-we-dont-want-lebron-on-the-celtics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/776314\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Pierce says ‘we don’t want’ LeBron on the Celtics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“I’m not holding my breath waiting on him to make a decision.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tPaul Pierce Danielle Parhizkaran\/Globe Staff\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"Former\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Garnett says Celtics will regret the Jaylen Brown trade: \u2018You don\u2019t break a great thing up\u2019\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReport: LeBron James \u2018hates\u2019 Celtics, would rank them last on his list of teams to join\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

LeBron James <\/a>is a free-agent for the fourth time in his career and the first time since 2018. <\/p>\n

He had a player option with the Lakers for this upcoming season, but chose to decline it and look elsewhere. <\/p>\n

James won at least one title with each team he joined during free agency. He won two with the Heat, he won another one when he returned to the Cavaliers, and he won one with the Lakers in 2020. <\/p>\n

However, Celtics legend Paul Pierce said he isn\u2019t too concerned about where James chooses to go this time. <\/p>\n

\u201cLeBron, he can do whatever he wants at this stage,\u201d Pierce told TMZ.<\/a> \u201cHe\u2019s in his 40\u2019s playing 20-plus years. His decision is his decision. I\u2019m not holding my breath waiting on him to make a decision. Whatever decision he makes is going to be the right one. <\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania said James is focusing on the Miami, Cleveland, and Philadelphia as possible destinations. <\/p>\n

The Akron, Ohio native has spent 11 of his 23 NBA seasons with the Cavaliers. Cleveland, which features Donovan Mitchell, James Harden, and Evan Mobley, is two years removed from being the top seed in the Eastern conference. <\/p>\n

Cleveland was the No. 4 seed this year. The Knicks swept the Cavs in the Eastern Conference Finals, but Pierce is not ruling out the possibility of James returning to the franchise. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think his best fit is Cleveland,\u201d Pierce said. <\/p>\n

Philadelphia added Jaylen Brown <\/a>via trade with the Celtics earlier this month. Pairing James with Brown, Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and V.J. Edgecombe would put the 76ers in the conversation as title contenders. <\/p>\n

The Heat recently outbid the Celtics to land Giannis Antetokounmpo, and could probably use another star to play alongside the two-time league MVP and Bam Adebayo. <\/p>\n

The Celtics are not among James\u2019s top options, according to multiple reports. ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst said that James \u201chates\u201d Boston<\/a> and would likely rank them last among the 30 NBA teams. <\/p>\n

Pierce was asked if he thought the Celtics might be a fit for James. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, we don\u2019t want him on the Celtics,\u201d Pierce said. <\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics “I’m not holding my breath waiting on him to make a decision.” Paul Pierce Danielle Parhizkaran\/Globe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-776314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}