Former NBA and Georgetown star Allen Iverson apparently has more problems than just a pending divorce from his wife. We already knew about his sick child, though no one has yet said what’s wrong with his 4-year-old.
Now comes a column by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Stephen A. Smith (OK, put aside your feelings on the former ESPN yapper for a moment). Smith wrote that Iverson’s problems also include alcohol and gambling. Last year an Internet report said that Iverson had been banned from a Detroit casino, which he denied. However, now Smith said Iverson has been banned from casinos in Detroit and Atlantic City.
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He also quoted Iverson’s business manager, Gary Moore, as saying what the former NBA MVP needed was for everyone to, “Pray.”
The sad thing is, Iverson made more than $200 million in his career, which now appears over — why sign an aging guard with this sort of background? And you have to wonder how soon it is before that fortune evaporates.
This is a troubling time for Iverson, who has five children. It’s time to get his life together. Will he? Former Temple coach John Chaney told Smith that Iverson’s college coach, John Thompson, might be able to help. Of course, he may have long been trying.
“John is the one guy who’ll have a chance of slowing this train wreck down,” Chaney said, “who could wrap his arms around Iverson and have an impact, because clearly it has not been done. But there’s still this one question: Will [Iverson] listen?”
