Former NBA MVP Allen Iverson hasn’t played a game in the NBA since 2010 when he had a short-lived second stint with the Philadelphia 76ers. Although Iverson is no longer one of the prominent faces in the league, the 41-year-old still makes news when he sits down for an interview.
With Iverson set to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September, along with former Los Angeles Lakers superstar Shaquille O’Neal, the once-controversial guard was asked a question many of the greats gets asked these days.
In an interview with rapper Jadakiss, Iverson was asked who he considers to be the top-five greatest players of all-time. The former face of the Sixers named two former Lakers in his list of only four players that he could name, via Adam Reisinger of ESPN:
“Mike [Jordan], Shaq [O’Neal], Kobe [Bryant], LeBron [James]. [The fifth one] could be a lot of dudes,” he said.
Kobe Bryant and Shaq making Iverson’s list comes as no surprise. The longtime 76ers guard had plenty of battles with these two greats during his career, including the NBA Finals in 2001 when the Lakers and 76ers went head-to-head.
Iverson fell short against the Lakers that year but definitely left his mark. The four-time scoring champion single-handedly willed his team to victory in Game 1 of the NBA Finals at the Staples Center in 2001 scoring 48 points against the Lakers who had yet to lose a game in the playoffs up to that point.
Ultimately, the Lakers went on to win the next four games and win their second straight title. Despite the Lakers’ eventually coming out on top, Iverson’s unbelievable performance, and an unforgettable highlight of him stepping over Tyronn Lue, still gets talked about today as one of the most impressive individual performances in NBA history.
