Allen Iverson is no longer just talking about practice. He has been missing games and is now on leave from the Sixers for the rest of the season. But unlike his infamous press conference, this situation is apparently no laughing matter.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Stephen A. Smith, who has had a close relationship with Iverson throughout his career, some of his NBA sources say that the former scoring champ is dealing with a multitude of problems, and unless he gets the help he needs, “Iverson will either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away.”
After initially taking a brief leave of absence from basketball to be with his sick four-year-old daughter, Messiah, Iverson decided on March 2 to sit out the remainder of Philadelphia’s 2010 campaign because he “no longer wishes to be a distraction.”
On March 4, Iverson’s wife, Tawanna, filed for divorce and custody of the couple’s five children. According to Smith, Iverson’s relationship with Tawanna used to be a stronghold in his life. They were so close, the Sixers guard once said publicly, "I'd die for her. … I'd die without her."
Despite Iverson’s tough situation at the moment, Smith feels he can be helped if someone comes in and strengthens his support system, someone who can keep him upright while he deals with the present situation. According to former Temple basketball coach John Chaney, that help could come in the form of Iverson’s old coach at Georgetown.
"I think there's one guy, and his name is John Thompson," Chaney told Smith. "John is the one guy who'll have a chance of slowing this train wreck down, who could wrap his arms around Iverson and have an impact, because clearly it has not been done.
“Too many of our athletes give lip service when someone is trying to help them,” Chaney continued. “And as soon as you leave them, they find themselves dealing with self-preservation and denial. It's an athlete's biggest problem to overcome.”
The support that Iverson once got from basketball, the game he once famously said he goes “out there and die[s] for and play[s] every game like it’s [his] last,” is gone — at least for now. So for the time being, Iverson is going to have to find support somewhere off the court.
