Allen Iverson is one of the greatest players in NBA history. A fearless scorer, an athletic freak, and a guy who had the ball on a string on every single possession. Even if he never won a championship, Iverson was one of the finest entertainers to ever lace them up.
But besides his insane crossovers, his crafty moves, baggy shorts, and his larger-than-life persona; even non-hoops fans often rememberThe Answerfor one thing: ‘We’re talking about practice.’
For some context, the Sixers lost in the first round of the playoffs the next year after reaching the NBA Finals. Iverson wasn’t too much of a fan of coach Larry Brown at the time. He got late to a meeting and there were rumors about an imminent trade. So, when a reporterasked him about practice, well… he snapped.
Allen Iverson Comes Clean On His Infamous ‘We’re Talking About Practice’ Rant
“We sitting in here — I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we in here talking about practice,” Iverson told the reporter. “I mean, listen: We talking about practice. Not a game. Not a game. Not a game. We talking about practice. Not a game. Not the game that I go out there and die for and play every game like it’s my last. Not the game. We talking about practice, man.”
Iverson’s clip went viral even before the social media era. Then, years later, he came clean about what truly went down. He wasn’t drunk like some people stated. Instead, he was mourning the loss of his best friend:
“Best friend just got killed… I was dealing with a whole bunch of shit at the time… Whatever reporter it was, just kept asking me about the practice situation and I just lost it,” Iverson said on All The Smoke.
The Media Didn’t Show That Part Of The Interview
The worst part about this is that it shouldn’t be a secret or a little-known fact. Iverson actually told the media that shortly before his ‘practice’ rant, yet they didn’t show the entire tape when the news spread:
“I’m upset for one reason: ‘Cause I’m in here. I lost. I lost my best friend. I lost him, and I lost this year. Everything is just going downhill for me, as far as just that. You know, as far as my life. And then I’m dealing with this,” Iverson said.“My best friend is dead. Dead. And we lost. And this is what I have to go through for the rest of the summer until the season is all over again.”
This once again shows how the media can portray someone and how, regardless of what he does, he may never be able to shake off that image. We often forget that athletes are human beings as well.