Allen Iverson is an NBA legend, not just because of his spectacular skills on the court, but because of his cultural impact off of it, too. Iverson was himself at all times, and his willingness to be comfortable in his own skin is what has allowed a lot of current NBA stars to feel the same way about themselves.
Iverson’s legacy includes one off-court moment that gets brought up all the time: the practice rant. His infamous media remarks about practice became a sports moment that is still replayed to this day on every morning talk or debate show. While Iverson has embraced this famous moment in his life, it’s understandable that he can sometimes be a little annoyed about it, usually in interactions with fans.
On a recent episode of the All The Smoke podcast, Iverson recounted how fans will come up to him and start talking about his practice rant rather than bringing up the many incredible moments from his playing career, which he believes is a little odd considering he was a Hall of Fame player.
“Somebody will come up to me and be like, ‘practice! practice!’ And I’ll look at them like, ‘you can’t be a little bit more original than that? I’m a Hall-of-Famer, all you can think about is practice?'”
Allen Iverson on #AllTheSmoke @shobasketball pic.twitter.com/0jFhnN7WMV
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) May 7, 2021
It’s definitely an iconic moment, but he has a point Iverson was the guy who, despite his size, managed to fight his way into the paint and tough out points. He was for years the owner of the deadliest crossover in the league, won MVP in 2001 as the leading scorer for the Philadelphia 76ers, and was credited for dragging an overmatched team to the NBA Finals. At the very least, let’s use this as an excuse to watch a bunch of Iverson highlights.