How Allen Iverson Went Broke – Allegedly – NBA
Allen Ezail Iverson was the Associated Press High School Player of the Year award in both football and basketball, and won the Division AAA Virginia State Championship in both sports. After high school, Iverson attended Georgetown University for two years, where he set the school record for career scoring average and won Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards both years. Following two successful years at Georgetown, Iverson declared eligibility for the 1996 NBA Draft, and was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the number one pick.He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in the 1996–97 season.
Iverson is an eleven-time NBA All-Star which includes winning the All-Star MVP award in 2001 and 2005. He won the NBA scoring title during the 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02 and 2004–05 seasons. His regular season career scoring average of 26.7 points per game ranks sixth all-time, and his playoff career scoring average of 29.7 points per game is second only to Michael Jordan. Iverson was also the NBA Most Valuable Player of the 2000–01 season and represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics, winning the bronze medal. He was rated the fifth greatest NBA shooting guard of all time by ESPN in 2008.
Allen Exail Iverson made plenty of jack in salary from the League….
| Year | Team | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1996-7 | Philadelphia 76ers | $2,267,000 |
| '97-8 | Philadelphia 76ers | $3,128,640 |
| '98-9 | Philadelphia 76ers | $3,537,000 |
| '99-00 | Philadelphia 76ers | $9,000,000 |
| '00-01 | Philadelphia 76ers | $10,130,000 |
| '01-02 | Philadelphia 76ers | $11,250,000 |
| '02-03 | Philadelphia 76ers | $12,375,000 |
| '03-04 | Philadelphia 76ers | $13,500,000 |
| '04-05 | Philadelphia 76ers | $14,625,000 |
| '05-06 | Philadelphia 76ers | $16,453,125 |
| '06-07 | Denver Nuggets | $17,184,375 |
| '07-08 | Denver Nuggets | $19,012,500 |
| 08-09 | Detroit Pistons | $20,840,625 |
| '09-10 | Philadelphia 76ers | $1,029,794 |
| '09-10 | Memphis Grizzlies | $161,386 |
| Career Earnings | $154,494,445 |
According to reports, you would think that Allen Iverson aka AI aka Bubba Chuck aka quite possibly the most prolific scorer in NBA history “all things considered’, hasn’t a penny to his name. The headlines from here to Greece claim that the once high flying 6 foot point guard with an untouchable cross over has squandered all of his money due to an alcohol problem, and making it rain problem, a holding down his crew problem and all of the other labels that gets placed on young men with too much money too early in their life. This all came to light when it was reported that he owed a nice chunk of change to a jewelry dealer:
A judge in Georgia has ordered Iverson to pay the $860,000 he apparently owes a jeweler, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The problem is, he didn’t have the cash to pay the jeweler, so the judge has ordered his bank accounts commandeered and his earnings garnished.
Actually, the information began to see the light when a newspaper went to check out the kid in Turkey:
Iverson is not a sensation here, but rather an exciting curiosity for small pockets of basketball fans, playing for a club that doesn’t even compete in Euroleague, Europe’s most prestigious.
The 76ers’ former all-everything guard is broke – by all accounts except his own – and playing here in Istanbul for a number of reasons, none of which is to become an ambassador for Turkey’s solid, but often overlooked, professional league.
In early November, Iverson signed a two-year, $4 million contract with Besiktas, then missed his original flight to Istanbul, got on a plane two days later, and scored 15 points in his Besiktas debut on Tuesday.
So from there, the slander began, and AI was the latest poster boot in a long line of rags to riches and back to rags stories that accompany so many former athletes. But what if it was all wrong? What if that wasn’t the narrative at all? What if the story goes, yes he did trick off maybe 150 million so far, but he still has more money that any normal person will ever make still in the bank. Would that make you a believer? Because according to Peter Vescey, AI had someone watching over him and his million while he was out earning them:
A person with a firm grip on the situation informs me Iverson has an account worth $32 million, a principal he is prohibited from touching until 55. In the meantime, it feeds him $1 million annually. At 45, Iverson is eligible to start drawing on an NBA pension that maxes out at 10 years of active duty, or take whatever’s there as lump sum. He will be entitled roughly to $8,000 per month ($800 per x 10).
If he can wait until he’s 62 or so. At that time, I’m told, his lump sum will be between $1.5 million and $1.8 million, or he can elect to take monthly checks of approximately $14,000 per.
Its looking like Ole Allen will be OK.
Iverson signs lifetime deal with Reebok [Link]
Iverson in Istanbul [Link]
Iverson isn’t ‘broke’ down [Link]
