Celtics got steal of 1998 draft in Paul Pierce 23 years ago today

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Paul Pierce was supposed to be a top three pick in the 1998 NBA Draft, but he fell all the way to No. 10, where the Boston Celtics were happy to take him.

It was a much-needed stroke of luck for the Celtics that Pierce fell so far in the first round. Boston had some rough draft lottery luck in previous seasons and needed another upper-tier talent to pair with All-Star forward Antoine Walker.

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Today (June 24) is the 23rd anniversary of the Celtics drafting Pierce. Here's a look back at the moment he became a Celtic (scroll to 13:37 in the video below):

This year will be a special one for Pierce because he's going to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September as a member of the 2021 class.

He was an easy pick as a first-ballot Hall of Famer following a remarkable career, of which the first 15 years were spent in Boston.

Pierce ranks second on the Celtics' all-time scoring list with 24,021 points. He also helped the C's defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals. Pierce won NBA Finals MVP in that series. He also was a 10-time All-Star and was selected to four All-NBA teams.

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