SUMMARY
- Allen Iverson was recently honored with a statue at the 76ers Legends Walk at their practice facility in Camden.
- Shaquille O'Neal claims the crossover was a perfect pose for a statue.
Allen Iverson was an athlete who inspired a great amount of young players who compete in the NBA today. Not only was AI a top-tier athlete but he also became a fashion icon in the sports industry. Iverson was an extremely gifted individual when it came to basketball, and it all stands true as he was named MVP in 2001. He was also an 11x All-Star with two All-Star Game MVPs, 1997 Rookie of the Year, multiple-time steals leader, and a scoring champ.
The size of Allen Iverson’s statue is in line with all of the others at the “Legends Walk” at the Sixers’ practice facility in Camden. pic.twitter.com/22weoDZUxi https://t.co/JcnypEDLp5
— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) April 12, 2024
Recently, the Philadelphia 76ers honored The Answer with a special statue in front of the Penn Medicine Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex. “That’s a representation to y’all people that helped me. To everyone that played a part in my development and in my life… It don’t even seem real,” said Iverson according to NBA.com. The statue was made of a crossover move that Iverson was a master of during his career.
Shaquille O’Neal believes Allen Iverson’s crossover statue is brilliant
Shaquille O’Neal happens to be a good friend of the former Sixers guard. They both work under Reebok as President and Vice President of basketball. However, they were also former rivals who played against each other in the 2001 NBA Finals. Shaq and Kobe Bryant walked away with the Larry O’Brien Trophy that season while Iverson retired without a ring. O’Neal shared his thoughts on the statue while his co-hosts on The Big Podcast questioned the pose the Sixers chose.
He said, “He’s a legendary figure that would never be forgotten… Like for example, when they [Staples Center] did my statue in LA, I was like, ‘I don’t want my statue in front, I want my goddamn dunkman emblem hanging off the side of the building.’ And for years, we fought on that… So if you go to LA Staple Center, you see my dunkman emblem, knees up, nuts out on the side of the building, you got people taking pictures.” People have been criticizing the size and look of Iverson’s statue which O’Neal believes looks brilliant.
Unlike Shaquille O’Neal, other NBA figures dislike Allen Iverson’s statue
Multiple other NBA figures mocked the Sixers for fixing a statue smaller than what stands outside of the Crypto.com Arena, United Center, or Boston’s City Hall. Former NBA player Matt Barnes uploaded a video on social media stating that Philadelphia is probably embarrassed by how tiny the statue is. He said, “That’s a trophy or statue? 76ers man, 76ers organization, y’all gotta do better than that, especially for bro.”
AI deserves better than this trophy @sixers🤦🏾♂️@Matt_Barnes22 pic.twitter.com/W8RkhDwjJ2
— All the Smoke Productions (@allthesmokeprod) April 13, 2024
Even Kevin Garnett believes that the statue needs to be bigger as he said, “Nah Philly… love the state but it’s GOTTA BE WAYYYY BIGGER,” via his Instagram story. This sculpture was designed by an artist named Doug Fisher, who created the other nine statues of the 76ers Legends Walk. Iverson was the tenth player to be honored with a statue by the Sixers.