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Former NBA champion Paul Pierce has been hit with two criminal charges following his recent arrest for driving under the influence in Los Angeles.
According to TMZ, Pierce has been charged with one count of driving under the influence of alcohol and one count of driving with .08 per cent blood alcohol content.
Pierce was found asleep at the wheel of his Range Rover SUV in the middle of a busy highway in Los Angeles on October 7.
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, 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.'
Former NBA champion Paul Pierce has been hit with two criminal charges after his DUI arrest
Pierce posted this photo to Threads, saying he fell asleep after sitting in 45 minutes of traffic
After being taken into custody, Pierce posted on social media that he simply fell asleep for 'being old and tired.'
'I took this picture that night because I never been in stand still traffic for this long,' he said.
'I'm old, I'm tired, and I fell asleep. I'm good y'all thanks for the love.'
The California Highway Patrol claimed that Pierce, who provided officers with a blood test, showed signs of alcohol impairment when they approached his vehicle.
The former Boston Celtics star is due to be arraigned in court in November.
Since retiring in 2017, the 48-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.
