Pierce admits that he's never met Larry Bird: "I thought we would have the opportunity there, but no, we haven't met"

Hall of Famer Paul Pierce is one of the greatest players to ever play for the Boston Celtics franchise. However, very surprisingly, Pierce admitted that he has never met the greatest Celtic of all time - Larry Bird .

More shockingly, Paul says that throughout his life, he has seen Larry Legend in person only once. And on that occasion, he didn't get a chance to meet him one-on-one because it was an NBA game and they were on opposite sides.

"I've never met him," said Pierce. "I saw Larry once, he came to the Garden when we played Indiana. Last time I was on the Celtics, playing Indiana, and he came, and they gave him a standing ovation. That's the closest I've seen him."

Pierce has never met Larry Legend

Paul was Boston's 10th overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, and he spent his first 15 seasons with the Celtics. He was the captain of the 2008 Celtics championship team, which won the franchise's first title in the post-Bird era.

During his Celtics tenure, Pierce said he always talked with Cornbread Maxwell. He also recalled having dinner with the one and only Bill Russell and talking with other Celtics greats like Tommy Heinsohn, John Havlicek, and Danny Ainge. However, Paul says he's never met Larry.

"He never came around Boston, I think he had a lot of issues with the former owners and he just never came really back to Boston. That's why he had the job in Indiana as a coach, and as a general manager, and president, and that was home for him. Like the 75 team anniversary, he didn't show up to that," Pierce added. "I thought we'd have an opportunity there, but no, haven't."

Why did Bird not work for Boston?

Contrary to Pierce's claim, Larry stayed in Beantown after his retirement. The Celtics hired him to be a 'special assistant' in the C's front office, with duties that included player scouting and player evaluation. But the role bored him, and after Boston hit rock bottom during the 1996-97 season, he quit his post and went home.

In May 1997, Bird was announced as the new Indiana Pacers head coach. Larry was named NBA Coach of the Year during the 1997-98 season, and he led the Pacers to the 2000 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Lakers. After that crushing loss, the Indiana native transitioned into a front-office role and was named the 2012 NBA Executive of the Year.

Bird resigned as Pacers president in 2017 but stayed with the franchise in an advisor role. He resigned in 2022, but last June, the Pacers announced that Larry had been re-hired as a consultant. He still holds that position, and his current team is battling the Celtics in the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals.

Related: Paul Pierce wants the Doncic-Bird comparisons to stop: "He's probably the European LeBron James"