Allen Iverson: The Last Hero

The emotion that leaks out of the occasional cracking of his voice is heartfelt as ever. But the words coming out of the 36-year-old Allen Iverson’s mouth are different than before.

“Not playing this year in the League,” says Iverson from his home in Atlanta, “it humbled me a whole lot. Because I’m a basketball player and I was taken away and not able to play on the biggest stage there is. It had me thinking a lot just about how to handle situations better than I had. I had to learn that this thing can be taken away from you.”

“The best thing that came out of those experiences is that it opened Allen’s eyes to the fact that there’s more important things out there than basketball,” Gary Moore, Iverson’s long-time business manager, mentor and president and founder of Moore Management and Entertainment LLC, says. “Those experiences let him know that one day this is going to end; basketball is going to end.”

The leg injury that you suffered in Turkey, is that all healed up?

Allen Iverson: Yeah, and it didn’t even take that long. It healed faster than I thought it would, actually.

You’ve been hurt a lot of times in your career and played. So if this was enough for surgery and all, that’s enough for people to know it was serious.

AI: Man, let me tell you something: I’ve played through everything, and I’ve never felt nothing like this in my life. When I went to see Dr. Andrews, he wanted to do the procedure, but I wanted him to cut because I had a sore in between two of the bones in my knee. It was a sore growing, and he wanted to cut it out. They was trying to get me to do the surgery there and just cut the whole thing out, but Dr. Andrews said he didn’t want to risk doing it because if they hit a nerve I could lose my foot.

How different is playing over there than here?

AI: It was a great, great experience. I had the opportunity to play in front of fans that probably thought they’d never see me. The fans over there were great. I mean, it’s different than the NBA but they are just as excited as the NBA fans. I’m talking about, when I tell you these people are into the game throughout the whole game and halftime, it’s amazing. The fans embraced me, and it was a great opportunity. But my whole thing is, that’s not where I wanted to be. I didn’t want to be away from my wife. I didn’t want to be away from my kids.

I want to finish my career out in the NBA, if that’s possible. And that’s in any capacity. I did a lot of things, I made a lot of mistakes as far as my actions and things that I’ve said, and I think that was the reason for me not being in the NBA. My whole thing now in trying to get back is letting any organization know that I’m willing to play any part that they want me to play.

What’s drawing you back out on the court? Just a love for the game?

AI: [Long pause; starts to choke up] I love to play basketball. I’ve always said, If I can’t do what I’m accustomed to doing out there on the basketball court, I’ll leave it alone. If I can’t be effective and help my team win basketball games out there, than I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to play the game that I feel like I’m the best in and go out there and not play like that, not feel like I’m that person. I don’t think it would be fair to my fans, my team, my organization, nothing. But when I look at basketball and when I know what I can do on the basketball court, it’s just hard knowing that I went through a whole NBA season and didn’t play when I know how much I can play. I’ll play for a team in any capacity just to get back out there doing what I love to do.

You think anyone is going to give you the chance?

AI: [Deep breath] I don’t know. We’re going to work hard at it, but like I said, if it doesn’t happen, I promise you I won’t sit home on my ass. I won’t do that. I’ll play for somebody.