Back in 2001 Allen Iverson was one of the biggest stars in the NBA. His number 3 Philadelphia Seventy 76ers jersey was one of the highest selling jerseys in the league, the A.I. sneaker was the basketball shoe of choice for young hoopsters and Iverson was named MVP of the 2001 NBA All-Star game.
Yes, “the Answer” was a hot commodity ten years ago and for the most part every team around the league would’ve loved to have him on their roster.

The thing that needs to be realized about professional sports though is that no matter how high you ascend your stay at the top will always be short lived. Athletes have that small window of time to make their mark before “father time” takes his toll. It starts off small, your acceleration isn’t as fast as it once was or your vertical leap isn’t quite as high. Then before you know it fans starting saying things such as “remember when he was in his prime” or “man he used to be a good player”.

Now in 2010, Allen Iverson at 35 years of age is coming to the end of his career. A.I. has been a member of the Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies, Detroit Pistons and Philadelphia 76ers over the past two seasons. Over the past two years Allen has only played in 85 games and averaged 13.1 points per game, not quite the 31.1 points per game he averaged during the 00-01 season. To make matters worse Iverson hasn’t been contacted about playing with any NBA team next season and NBA training camps begin in less than two weeks. Iverson’s personal manager Gary Moore says that he can’t understand the lack of interest teams around the league are showing in “the answer”.

"We're very astonished, to say the least, that not one team has contacted us with any interest," Moore said. "I just don't understand it."

Gary Moore did say that a team in China has “legitimate interest” in Allen and that a deal could be worked out. Moore said that he couldn’t remember the name of the Chinese team, but did say they first approached Iverson last month about joining the club.

I remember watching Allen play in the 2001 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers and I can honestly say that he was one of the most exciting and electrifying players that I have ever seen. Ideally you would love to see all sports superstars leave the game gracefully, but this is just the “life cycle” of a professional athlete. All athletes no matter how great they are age and with that aging comes the loss of the skills that helped the athlete rise to the top.

I remember watching Michael Jordan hit game winning jumpers against the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals and I also remember watching Michael Jordan finish out his career as a role player with the Washington Wizards. I remember watching Shaquille O’Neal dominate and win NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat, but this coming season Shaq will be a 15-20 minute role player with the Boston Celtics. I don’t want to get repetitive with these examples, but I think you can see the point I’m trying to make.

I guess the only thing that baffles me about this situation is the following quote from the aforementioned Gary Moore.

"What has Allen Iverson done to not warrant interest in him?" Moore said.

All I can say in response to that question is that Allen Iverson has done nothing wrong and that he appears to be at the end of a fabulous career. Young superstars such as Rajon Rondo, Chris Paul and Deron Williams are three of the top players in the game right now in 2010, but it would be silly to think that all three of them will still be sitting on top in 2020.

I encourage Allen Iverson to take the opportunity to play in China next season if he still has a passion for the game and there is interest in him from the organization. I would also encourage him to take the Chinese assignment and the lack of interest from the NBA not as a snub, but rather to be mindful that nothing lasts forever.

Thoughts comments opinions

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