After 14 years in the NBA, Allen Iverson has officially retired from the league. Earlier today, the Virgina native gave his official retirement speech from the Wells Fargo Center in Philly. A.I. broke down barriers after first being drafted in ’96 by the Philadelphia 76ers, his style of play, tattoos, attitude, and style of dress were 100% hip-hop and the NBA was not ready for the kid. As someone who grew up in the Philly area, Allen was a f*ckin’ icon. A real local super heroe. I’m shedding a few tears as I watch this.
“It wasn’t just about that I didn’t like practice or care about practice or anything like that,” Iverson said. “If I could go back and do it all over again, I would never have done the interview. As far as how I expressed practice, practice, practice over and over again, I wouldn’t take that back. That soundbyte — because it’s great for the media and great for the fans, they love it — but they had no idea my best friend just got killed. They had no idea that press conference wasn’t about practice, it was about me not being traded from Philadelphia. That’s what I thought I was at that podium to talk about.”“I gave everything I had to basketball,” Iverson said at the Wells Fargo Center. “The passion is still there but the desire to play is not. It was a great ride.”“I promise you it is a happy day for me,” he said. “I thought this day would be a tough day but it’s a happy day.”
“I took an ass kicking for me being me in my career,” Iverson said. “For me looking the way I look and me dressing the way I dress. It was just being me. Now, look around, now all of the guys in the NBA have tattoos. You used to think the suspect was the guy with the cornrows. Now you see the police offers with the cornrows. I took a beating for those type of things and I’m proud to say I changed a lot with this culture and this game.”
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