Paul Pierce is considered one of the greatest basketball players of all time. But despite a storied 19-year career in the NBA, in which he won the 2008 championship with the Boston Celtics, it has been revealed that Pierce is currently dealing with financial hardship. Celtics icon Paul Pierce is reportedly dealing with financial hardship amid various ongoing legal battlesGettyThis comes despite earning approximately $200 million during his Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame career. According to a report from TMZ, the 49-year-old’s legal team have said that Pierce is ‘drowning financially’ following his departure from FOX Sports, where he served as an analyst.His monthly income from this role was estimated to be in the region of $119,000, with his last payment from Fox coming back in August. But last month this figure dropped to around $23,000 and was made up of various other business interests, but now it is zero. His struggles stem from trying to keep up with his court-ordered child support payments. He reportedly pays around $28,000 a month for this, while he also pays an additional $20,000 in spousal support, totalling £48,000 monthly. He is also reportedly embroiled in a legal battle with ex-partner Princess Santiago, with whom he shares son King Rafael Santiago Pierce, with him ordered to pay a five-figure sum per month in child support back in September, as well as $100,000 in legal fees. Furthermore, Santiago is also seeking him to pay an additional $40,000 in legal fees, as well as $10,000 for forensic accounting amid claims that he wasn’t fully disclosing his financial records. As for his own outgoings, Pierce disclosed approximately $48,000 in monthly household expenses, which includes $5,000 on groceries and $3,200 for utilities. One glaring expenditure is his $7,000 average on eating out at restaurants, as well as spending $3,500 on entertainment, which equates to about $120,000 per year. Pierce has worked for ESPN and FOX since his retirement, but is now unemployedGettyPierce earned $200m during his 19-year NBA careerGettyTo put this into context, this is almost double the US median salary in 2026. But money is drying up, and fast, with Pierce now reportedly only having $300,000 in the bank, as well as an additional $3 million in property. Pierce responds on social mediaAmid this story hitting the tabloids, the Celtics legend took to social media platform X on Tuesday writing just one word: “Cap.”This marked his first tweet since September 4. Following his retirement from the NBA in 2017, and prior to his short tenure at Fox, Pierce served as an analyst for ESPN. However, he was dismissed in 2021 after he went live on Instagram where he filmed himself drinking and smoking whilst partying with dancers in the background. Pierce called out the recent reports as ‘cap’Getty‘The Truth’ addressed his firing in 2023 during an appearance on an episode of the I Am Athlete podcast, where he maintains that he didn’t do anything wrong. “I got fired for what? I got fired for having some entertainment. I’m playing cards, [it’s] my boy’s birthday, there’s girls dancing, and we’re blowing some trees. What did I do wrong?” he questioned. He also detailed how his firing went down with the ESPN executives. “She’s [ESPN management] like ‘yeah, we’re doing an investigation. Could you tell us what happened?’ And I’m like ‘you didn’t see it?’ I was just hanging out, playing cards. It wasn’t my house,” he continued. “It was self-explanatory, you know what I’m sayin? There were some girls dancing, and I had some OG. It’s legal. I didn’t do nothing illegal. “But you know, at the end of the day, it’s Disney, and they have a morals clause, and they just said it was immoral.”Sign up for talkSPORT Stateside, the YouTube channel dedicated to passionate US Sports fans. Will Gavin, Brian T. Smith, former NFL star Efe Obada and a collection of special guests debate the biggest talking points across the NFL, soccer, NBA and more.