The Philadelphia 76ers have honored Hall of Fame guard Allen Iverson, who spent much of his career with them, by unveiling a statue of him outside of their practice facility in Camden, New Jersey.
It depicted Iverson performing his trademark crossover dribble that he used to help him score 24,368 points over his 14-year NBA career.
But some have criticized the diminutive size of the statue, and former NBA player Jamal Crawford, who had a killer crossover dribble himself, took to Twitter to criticize the 76ers organization for making Iverson’s statue so small.
“The Sixers should be ashamed of themselves with the size of that statue!” he tweeted.
The Sixers should be ashamed of themselves with the size of that statue!
— 🏁 Jamal Crawford (@JCrossover) April 12, 2024
Iverson was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the 76ers after he had starred for two seasons just down I-95 at Georgetown University.
While he sometimes had a bit of a prickly relationship with his teammates, the media (see his infamous “practice” rant in 2002), and head coach Larry Brown, he became a cult figure.
The apex of his career came in the 2000-01 season when he was named league MVP and took an underwhelming Sixers team all the way to the NBA Finals.
There, they faced a Los Angeles Lakers team captained by Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant that had swept through the first three rounds of the playoffs and was expected to run the table.
But Iverson scored 48 points in Game 1 to lead Philly to a shocking win, and although they lost the next four contests, they showed plenty of resistance.
The 76ers haven’t won the world championship since 1983, but that 2001 run to the brink is legendary in the annals of Philly sports history thanks to Iverson’s skill and doggedness.
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Allen Iverson Praises 76ers Star
