*NBA icon Allen Iverson gave a wide-ranging interview to GQ and touched on a myriad of topics from his tattoos to his personal style and gameplay as well as the lifetime deal he signed with Reebok at the beginning of his career.
As EUR reported previously, the year was 2001, the most successful in AI’s hall of fame career. He had just led the Sixers to the NBA Finals and earned league MVP honors that same year. Reebok would reward Iverson with a lifetime deal that would include an additional $5 to $10 million per year for the rest of his playing days, $800,000 per year for the rest of his life, as well as a trust fund worth $32 million that he couldn’t access until his 55th birthday-which is June 7, 2030.
Iverson’s deal assured him additional income long after his playing days. The deal was struck at a time of great controversy as an increased number of former NBA all-stars were turning up broke. According to Sports Illustrated, 60 percent of former NBA players become bankrupt within 5 years of their retirement.
Check out what Iverson had to say about the deal in the excerpts below from his new interview with GQ.
READ MORE: Allen Iverson Speaks About His Failed Rap Career and ‘Terrible’ Debut Hip-Hop Album | Video
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Do you have any memorable interactions with Jordan from when you first got into the league?
There was a hurtful moment my rookie year. We were playing against the Bulls, and I remember Jerry Stackhouse was getting into it with Mike and Scottie Pippen. I was at the free throw line. I wasn’t even in the little verbal altercation. And Scottie said something like, “If y’all don’t respect nobody, y’all gonna respect us….” Me, 21 years old, young and confident, all I said was, “We not gone respect nobody.” I was saying we not respecting nobody on the dance floor. They took it and ran with it. He don’t respect Michael Jordan?! Just crazy-ass. It was a big-ass fucking deal because I was involved in the shit.
So Mike was the starting point for your playing style, but you came with your own recipe. How did that come about?
I tried to implement all my favorite players into one. I wanted to jump like Mike, pass like Magic, be fast like Isiah, shoot like Bird, rebound like Barkley, be dominant like Shaq. The crossover came about in college. I played with a dude from New York, Dean Berry. He was a walk-on, didn’t even have his name on the back of his uniform. But he was quick and had this vicious, vicious crossover.
How did you develop your personal style?
It was built over time. I know it had a lot to do with the dudes that I grew up with. All throughout my life—and it still goes on today—we compete with dressing. Still.
These days, it’s like we actually wanna watch the tunnel walk and game day fits on IG because we wanna see what players got on.
Put it to you this way. When you see the gangsters growing up, whether it’s Nicky Barnes or Frank Lucas or Bumpy Johnson or Al Capone, what these gangsters got on? Suits! But the crazy part about it is, they were real gangsters. But I was spoken on like I was one of them because I was wearing baggy clothes, T-shirts, baggy jeans, and Timberlands, hats with a durag, know what I mean? And I got a perception of being a gangster? All I’m doing is wearing the shit that I wear to the club after the game…. Right after they tried to switch it up and do the dress code, that’s when I started getting custom-made tops and bottoms. Not necessarily a blazer or nothing like that, but freaking it. Okay. May have a blazer on. May have a collared shirt on with some jeans and some sneakers.
Do you remember the first game you came out in cornrows?
All-Star weekend, the rookie game, where I had about 32 braids in my head.
Thirty-two?
Man, I ain’t lyin’. I looked at that picture, that shit looked so terrible. I’m tellin’ you. I know I had about 30 braids. Because my shit, it wasn’t ready. I don’t have no hang time now, but I damn sure ain’t had none then. At all.
Your relationship with Reebok goes back to the beginning of your career—why did you choose them?
Coach Thompson was on the board of directors for Nike. They had a deal on the table and Reebok had a deal on the table. Nike’s was like five years, $10 million. And Reebok’s was for $50 million. When I told Coach Thompson, I was like, “Man, I’m telling you this because you on the board of directors.” He was basically like, “Man, if you don’t get the fuck out my face with that stupid shit. That’s a no-brainer, son. Get the hell out my office.” I mean Reebok just always been loyal to me. It’s the most amazing relationship between a player and a brand that you could ever think of. Never tried to market and promote me in a way that made me uncomfortable or change who I was. They still go off of who I am, opposed to trying to make me out to be something that I’m not. I’m still with them and going to be with them forever.
What else are you looking forward to?
My restaurant that we’re getting ready to open in Virginia. I’m starting in Virginia. Then we gonna take it to Philadelphia because it’ll be big, obviously, in Philadelphia. Then DC and Charlotte. I’m crawling before I walk.
Read the full interview here.
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