Paul Pierce & Antoine Walker: Playing Together, Winning Apart, Celtics Observations

It was the year 1998 when Paul Pierce came into the league and linked up with Antoine Walker to become one of the most promising young duos in the NBA during the lockout year. Both players were 20-point-per-game scorers and both players were All-Stars. Yet they couldn’t punch through in the postseason, which led Danny Ainge to break them apart. About 25 years after they first became teammates, the duo sits down to remember their time together, their breakup when Walker was traded (plus their reunion when Walker returned), watching each other win titles from afar, their observations of this year’s team, and the parallels between their partnership and that of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.

 

1:00 – Remembering the early years together

 

3:40 – Learning how to win as young players

 

14:00 – Pierce watching Walker win a title from afar, then celebrating with him in Chicago

 

17:15 – Walker’s return to the Celtics and the “two-star” formula

 

22:30 – Parallels between Pierce/Walker and Tatum/Brown

 

32:15 – Having two star players who play a similar position

 

38:00 – Walker tells story of nudging Kevin Garnett to accept trade to Celtics

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.