Lakers Icon Kobe Bryant Said 'F--k Paul Pierce' About Wheelchair for Achilles Injury | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Not even a torn Achilles could stop Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant from getting a dig in at former Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce.

It's safe to say Bryant understood the magnitude of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry given his apparent response when he suffered a torn Achilles during an April 2013 game against the Golden State Warriors:

Bleacher Report @BleacherReport

Right after Kobe tore his Achilles, former Lakers athletic trainer Gary Vitti asked him if he wanted a wheelchair<br><br>Kobe's response 😅<br><br>(via <a href="">@MarkG_Medina</a>) <a href="">

Rather than be helped off with a wheelchair, Bryant famously remained on the floor and hit two free throws. Unfortunately for the Hall of Famer and Lakers fans, though, he was never quite the same on the court after that injury.

He played just six games the following season in 2013-14 and 35 games in 2014-15 before appearing in 66 games in his final season in 2015-16.

The wheelchair response was clearly a dig at Pierce, who was infamously wheeled off the floor during Game 1 of the 2008 NBA Finals with what appeared at the time to be a serious injury. Yet he returned to the game and helped lead the Celtics to a title.

He even made quite the statement years later on ESPN's NBA Countdown:

ESPN @espn

"I just had to go to a bathroom."<a href="">@paulpierce34</a> admits the only reason he left the 2008 Finals in a wheelchair was to go to the bathroom 😂 <a href="">

While the Celtics defeated the Lakers in those Finals, Bryant made up for it by leading Los Angeles to back-to-back championships the following two years. His Purple and Gold even defeated Boston in the 2010 NBA Finals, in which he was named MVP.

And he still didn't seem to have much love for the Celtics star years later when he suffered the injury.