NBA legend Paul Pierce breaks silence on DUI arrest after cops found him 'asleep in middle of freeway'

Former NBA Champion Paul Pierce has broken his silence on his recent arrest for driving under the influence.

Pierce was found asleep at the wheel of his Range Rover SUV in the middle of a busy highway in Los Angeles.

After being taken into custody, Pierce is simply chalking things up to him being old and tired.

On the night of his arrest, California Highway Patrol shut down multiple lanes of Highway 101 to investigate a crash. It left Pierce and many other motorists stuck in gridlocked traffic for nearly an hour.

When the highway was re-opened at around 10:30pm local time on Tuesday night, Pierce was found sleeping at the wheel just south of the crash.

Pierce posted an image of rows and rows of cars with brake lights on and captioned it, 'Imagine being stuck in stand still traffic for 45 mins and falling asleep.'

'I took this picture that night because I never been in stand still traffic for this long.

'I'm old, I'm tired, and I fell asleep. I'm good y'all thanks for the love.' 

Pierce did not address whether or not he had been drinking prior to being caught in traffic.

It's not clear if Pierce will be criminally charged - with the California Highway Patrol saying (according to TMZ) that they are in the process of presenting a case to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office for review. 

'Officers noted signs of alcohol impairment [in Pierce] and conducted a DUI investigation,' read a department statement. 'Pierce was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, a violation of California Vehicle Code 23152(a), and taken to the CHP Central Los Angeles Area office.'

Since retiring in 2017, the 47-year-old California native has worked as an NBA analyst for two sports cable stations, both of which ultimately fired him. 

In 2021, Pierce was let go by ESPN after livestreaming himself playing poker with bikini-clad women as the group enjoyed some alcohol and marijuana.

The Truth, as he was known during his playing days, resurfaced at FS1 in 2024, where he served as a regular contributor on Undisputed with Skip Bayless. That show was later cancelled and Pierce moved to another show, Speak, which was also shut down.