Ever since SLAM reported Allen Iverson will announce his retirement this week, the Internet has been abuzz with remembrances of the former NBA MVP, an enigmatic, scrappy, dogged scorer who spawned a generation of imitators.
And when we talk about Iverson, we talk about practice, even if he didn’t want us to.
Yeah, that video isn’t going to get old ever.
But Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton finally maybe, sort of, kind of explained it by confirming an old rumor during a show on his new employer, Fox Sports One. (The video’s at the top, and you probably watched that and haven’t even read this far. We’ll proceed as though you have, though.)
So, Payton’s story goes something like this:
1. He and Iverson were drunk.
2. Iverson was thinking about alcohol’s effects on the body, like a responsible person.
3. Payton said the only way to stay fit was to not practice, adding that then-Seattle SuperSonics coach George Karl never made him practice.
4. Iverson decided that meant he could go off on rants about practice.
“I said, ‘You have to stop practicing,’ ” Payton recalled.
But after he saw the infamous news conference?
“‘Don’t say it like this! Don’t do it like that, Allen,’ ” Payton recalled thinking. “When he said it, I said, ‘No, that was not our conversation.’ ”
Payton said then-Philadelphia 76ers coach Larry Brown later blamed Payton for the drama. Larry Brown’s not someone you want to anger.
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