For the past two weeks, it’s been hard to look through social media or have a basketball conversation without someone bringing up the Paul Pierce-Dwyane Wade topic.

As most know, Pierce was heavily criticized and mocked for saying that he was a better player than Wade, who recently retired from the NBA, on national television. Pierce even said he could have won more NBA championships if he had LeBron James and Chris Bosh on his team.

It’s not like Pierce didn’t have Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo on his team when he was playing for the Boston Celtics, but who am I to judge?

If you ask me, Pierce may be a little salty that his farewell tour wasn’t as memorable as Wade’s “One Last Dance,” which featured jersey swapping, exclusive merchandise and endless support from fans.

I stand in the same position as most basketball fans when I say Wade is a better overall player than Pierce. Wade, a 13-time NBA All-Star, won three NBA Finals, a scoring title in 2009 and was named First Team All-NBA twice. Wade has countless hours of remarkable highlights reels, and will be immortalized in basketball history as one of the greatest shooting guards of all -time.  

The only thing I stand against is the amount of slander Pierce is getting. People are treating Pierce like he isn’t a future Hall of Famer.

Pierce was a 10-time All-Star, 2007-08 NBA Finals MVP and recorded 26,, 397 career points, which is more than Wade’s.

Pierce is one of the greatest players to ever wear a Celtics’ uniform because of his ability to score the ball and deliver with the game on the line. It didn’t matter if it was a regular season game or the NBA Playoffs, Pierce was clutch during the final seconds.

That said, I can’t be completely mad at the people clowning Pierce, as we live in a world where some people base their judgements on what the masses say on social media, and the younger generation of basketball fans probably watched Pierce during the ladder stages of his remarkable career.

I felt the same way when Carmelo Anthony was at the end of every bad joke on social media. Anthony is an all-time great scorer – have some respect for his name.

It’s crazy to see how times have changed and how unfortunate it is for Pierce, who dominated the league during a time when social media wasn’t the ultimate content platform it is today.

Now, Pierce is being looked at as a viral meme instead of being honored for his legacy.