Allen Iverson
Allen Ezail Iverson (/ˈaɪvərsən/; born June 7, 1975) is a former American professional basketball player. He played for 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) at both the shooting guard and point guard positions. Iverson was an 11-time NBA All-Star, won the All-Star game great playersrMVP award in 2001 and 2005, and was the NBA's Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2000–01 season. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
Education
changeIverson went to Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia. This is where he played for the football team and the basketball team. He won the Associated Press High School Player of the Year award in both football and basketball. He also won the Division AAA Virginia state championship in both sports. After high school, Iverson won a scholarship to Georgetown University. He played college basketball with the Georgetown Hoyas for two years. He set the school record for career scoring average (22.9 points per game). He also won the Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards in both years.
Career
changeAfter two years at Georgetown, Iverson was eligible for the 1996 NBA draft. He was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the first overall pick. He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in the 1996–97 season. Iverson won the NBA scoring title during the 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, and 2004–05 seasons. Iverson was one of the smallest players in NBA history at 6 feet, 0 inches. His regular season career scoring average of 26.7 points per game ranks seventh all-time, and his playoff career scoring average of 29.7 points per game is second after Michael Jordan. Iverson led his team to the 2001 NBA Finals. He won the bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Later in his career, Iverson played for the Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons, and the Memphis Grizzlies, before ending his NBA career with the 76ers during the 2009–10 season. He was ranked as the fifth greatest NBA shooting guard of all time by ESPN in 2008. He finished his career playing with Turkish-based basketball team, Beşiktaş in 2011. In 2017, Iverson joined BIG3, a 3-on-3 basketball league, as a player-coach for the team ‘3’s Company.’