Allen Iverson To Offically Retire Prior Sixers Opener
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Allen Iverson will be making it official, and he'll be doing it with the team that drafted him.
A league source tells CBS Philly that Iverson will officially announce his retirement from professional basketball in the afternoon, prior to to the Sixers opener on October 30th, against the Miami Heat. This was first reported by ESPN.
Iverson was selected first overall by the Sixers in the 1996 NBA Draft out of Georgetown, and made an immediate impact. Though he had his well documented trials and tribulations with eventual head coach Larry Brown, including a near-trade that almost sent Iverson to Detroit, the two eventually found enough common ground to lead the Sixers to an NBA Finals trip in 2000-01 season, and Iverson to an MVP award. The Sixers would eventually lose to the Lakers in the Finals, but would be the only team to take a game from the Lakers during the playoffs.
Iverson was eventually traded to the Nuggets, had brief stints with the Pistons and the Grizzlies, before eventually signing again with the Sixers for an injury-riddled half season during one of the Sixers worst seasons in recent memory and the only one under head coach Eddie Jordan.
Iverson will retire as the Sixers all-time leader in scoring average, and second all time in total points.
