Allen Iverson was apparently so competitive that the Philadelphia 76ers had to hide his jersey whenever he’d get hurt.
According to former general manager Billy King, Iverson wanted to play so badly when he was hurt the team had to go to some extreme lengths to protect him from himself. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
King said the following on the “The Audacy NBA Show with Ryan McDonough,” according to SixersWire:
When he was injured and we knew he couldn’t play we used to hide his jersey. Because he would come to the locker room looking for his jersey, we’d lock it somewhere so he couldn’t get it…. One time, in New York, he found his jersey but didn’t have any shoes. He was trying to send the ball boy to the Foot Locker around the corner. He said ‘just give me a pair of their Reeboks. I can play in those.’ Then he pointed to an attendant, ‘what size are you, just give me those shoes,’ because he wanted to play so bad.
I love everything about this. People like to drag the former NBA star because of his infamous practice rant, but the dude was insanely competitive.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that he wanted to push the limits and that the team had to respond accordingly. It’s similar to when a football player has a concussion and the team has to take his helmet away.
Iverson just wanted to play so damn bad that he was willing to just take a random guy’s shoes. How can you not love that kind of competitive fire?
That’s the exact kind of guy I’d want on my team.
Of course, you also can’t blame the 76ers for trying to protect the face of their franchise. If Iverson had gone out and gotten hurt worse because the team let him get on the court, then people would have lost their jobs. Everyone was participating in a bit of CYA.
Still, I love how passionate Iverson was about winning and playing.