September 24, 2000 is a day that Paul Pierce will never forget.

That night, just a few years into his blossoming future Hall of Fame NBA career, Paul was stabbed eight times and nearly lost his life.

It’s a night Paul doesn’t talk about much, the memories just too painful. But in a recent appearance on Showtime’s All the Smoke podcast with friends and fellow former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Paul recounted the moments leading up to and following a tragic event that altered the course of his life forever.

“That night changed my life,” he told Barnes and Jackson. “I remember being at the hospital banging on the hospital door, asking ‘Am I going to die?’ it really changed my life to go through that. I got stabbed three times in the stomach and five times in the back with two different knives.”

Watch the whole segment below and click here to watch the podcast in its entirety on YouTube.