More than $100,000 in cash, luxury watches and a safe were reportedly stolen from the San Fernando Valley home of Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Pierce last week.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to The Times on Tuesday that officers responded to a burglary around 9 a.m. Friday on the Woodland Hills block where Pierce lives. “Unknown items” were stolen, according to the LAPD, and no arrests have been made.
TMZ first reported that Pierce’s house had been burglarized on Friday while the 10-time NBA All-Star was not home.
The LAPD declined to comment on whether the incident may be connected to a growing trend of “burglary tourism,” in which thieves from South America enter the United States for the purpose of committing robberies, typically in wealthy neighborhoods.
A former standout player at Inglewood High, Pierce was a first-round draft pick for the Boston Celtics in 1998. He was named the MVP of the 2008 NBA Finals, in which the Celtics defeated the Lakers in six games for the only championship of Pierce’s career.
After 15 seasons in Boston, Pierce spent a year each with the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards, then played two years with the Clippers before retiring after the 2016-17 season. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2021.
After his retirement from the NBA, Pierce served as a basketball analyst for ESPN and more recently was a cast member on the Fox reality series “Stars on Mars.”
Last year, Pierce reached a $1.4-million settlement agreement with the Securities and Exchanges Commission over alleged unlawful crypto promotion. Pierce admitted to no wrongdoing in making the settlement.
Chuck Schilken
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