Yes ladies & gents, Allen Iverson has officially retired. I really don’t understand all the slander I saw on Twitter. While I’ve never been a Sixers fan, how can you not appreciate what AI has done for the game?!?! C’mon, give the man the credit that’s due.
We at IFWT are wishing AI the best in his future. If you missed it, check out what he had to say.
Via ESPN:
Saying he’s lost his desire to play, Allen Iverson formally announced his retirement from basketball Wednesday.
Iverson last played in the NBA in the 2009-10 season, when he played three games with theMemphis Grizzlies and 25 with the Philadelphia 76ers — he spent the first 10 years of his 14-year career with the Sixers — before leaving both teams. He last played professionally in Turkey during the 2010-11 season but left halfway through the first season of a two-year contract. Iverson was offered a contract to play in the NBA Development League with the Texas Legends last year but ultimately declined it.
“I gave everything I had to basketball,” Iverson said at the Wells Fargo Center. “The passion is still there but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride.”
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Iverson said he’ll be a Sixer “until the day I die.”
Iverson, 38, declined to directly address a number of issues that have been raised in the years since he last played in the NBA. There have been media reports describing his problems with alcohol and gambling as well as financial issues despite earning more than $200 million in salary and endorsements. Iverson and wife Tawanna divorced earlier this year.
“It does bother me, I have a heart just like everybody else,” Iverson said of the recent stories. “People have encouraged me to [publically] address those issues. But if I know and my family knows and people that are close to me know, why do I have to explain myself? It’s hard having rhino skin sometimes. … A negative story about Allen Iverson is going to sell regardless. Nobody wants to talk about what I do for [charities]. That’s how this world is.”
(Story Continues…)
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