Almost 11 months ago, Kevin Durant announced he was leaving the Oklahoma City Thunder and signing with the Golden State Warriors -- and Paul Pierce is still irritated by his decision.

On ESPN's 'The Jump,' Pierce likened Durant's decision to getting beat up by a gang of bullies, then deciding to join them down the road.

"I'm not a guy who goes into the neighborhood, gets beat up by the bully's gang, and then now I want to join their gang," Pierce said. "That's just not me; I wanna fight, let's go! I mean I'm gonna stand up for myself, that's just the competitive nature of where I come from, the era I grew up in."

Pierce's take on Durant isn't new, although he did put a little twist on the If-you-can't-beat-'em-join-'em school of thought. Pierce has every right to weigh in. He paid his dues after a 19 seasons in the league, 15 with Boston before being traded to the Nets.

In the grand scheme of things, Durant's decision significantly shifted the NBA's competitive balance and dropped OKC from a title contender to first-round exit, while Golden State jumped up a level after having won an NBA-record 73 regular-season games in 2015-16.

Despite the criticism from Pierce and others, Durant embraces the role as the NBA villain and is happy with his decision. 

"I'm just at peace with myself; I'm at peace with myself as a basketball player, most importantly," Durant said in a recent interview with USA Today Sports. "I think this move, and the criticism that comes with this move, has made me zero in on what's the most important thing, and that's just playing basketball, working out every day, getting better, enjoying every single day as a basketball player. It made me really appreciate that. It made me go back to that. When you listen to the nonsense, then you start to really let it take control of your thoughts, that's [not good], you know what I'm saying? So I just got back to the game."