"He was telling a ball boy to run to Foot Locker and get him some shoes" - Former Sixers and Nets GM on Allen Iverson's relentless desire to play, and hiding his jersey before a game [Exclusive]
Allen Iverson is one of the fiercest competitors to ever play in the NBA. The No.1 pick of the 1996 draft was only six foot tall and weighed 165 pounds, but he was hard as nails on the court.
The Philadelphia 76ers icon was so stubborn in his desire to play that he often disregarded team doctors’ orders and suited up when injured.
Former 76ers GM Billy King recently appeared on Sportskeeda's "Inside The Huddle" podcast, where he shared a hilarious story about Iverson. He recalled the time the team had to hide Iverson's jersey to try and keep him off the court.
“I think the game was in New York one time and he wanted to play desperately, obviously at The Garden but he was hurt and couldn’t play. I remember telling our equipment guy, ‘You gotta hide the jersey because if he gets it, he’s gonna put it on and it’ll be a fistfight not to let him play.’”
King continued:
“That time he found the jersey, but he didn’t have shoes so he was telling the ball boy to run to Foot Locker to get him some shoes, get him some Reeboks so he could play. That was him, he wanted to play every chance he got.”
Here's the full video of the podcast:
Ex-76ers GM Billy King speaks about Allen Iverson’s desire to play, via USA Today:
“When AI was injured, we used to hide his jersey. Once, AI found his jersey, but didn’t have any shoes. He tried to send the ball boy to Foot Locker. Then, he asked an arena worker for his shoes.” https://t.co/EXJeeSWPkl
IVERSON: “I could never, ever sit out a game if something wasn’t broke or I just simply couldn’t play. I thought about y’all wanting to see me. I always wanted to put on a show for you all even if it was the worst game that I had. The effort was definitely going to be there." https://t.co/NhwsXQIkJo
The former MVP led the league in minutes played on seven occasions. In eight seasons where he reached the playoffs, “The Answer" averaged at least 39.5 minutes per game.
Despite the pounding he regularly took, particularly with his daredevil drives to the basket, Iverson’s competitive fire kept him going.
“He didn’t back down. He was fearless.”
Allen Iverson: The Answer - Monday, June 6 at 8pm ET on NBA TV!
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Allen Iverson’s tenacity and drive were evident in the 2001 NBA Finals against an LA Lakers team consisting of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant among others. Iverson averaged 35.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He also averaged 47.8 minutes per game.
Allen Iverson took time off in practice to protect his body
![Allen Iverson would often miss practice to spare his body from more pounding. [Photo: Fadeaway World]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/07/6137d-16590193686201-1920.jpg)
The pounding Allen Iverson absorbed in almost every game left him banged up. There were certain days that he’d attend practice, but refused to take the court.
Billy King shed light on Iverson's thought-process:
“Practice-wise, in his mind, he needed to help his body cause he was playing 42 minutes a night. He was like, ‘I’m here but I just can’t get banged up cause we play again tomorrow night.’
"And it got blown up more because I think Larry [Brown] talked about it a lot more and that frustrated Allen because he was giving us everything he had in games.”
Ex-76ers President Pat Croce tells the story of how Allen Iverson and Larry Brown's relationship came to a head. bit.ly/1lwb4OR
Larry Brown, a no-nonsense, old-school disciplinarian, didn’t look kindly at Iverson for missing practices. That was one of the many problems in their relationship during their time in Philly.
"Once I started to learn from him... That's when I became MVP." - @alleniverson on his @sixers coach, Larry Brown https://t.co/BkX72VRQyX