There have been a lot of rumors over the last 24 hours that the Philadelphia 76ers are interested in possibly bringing Allen Iverson out of retirement to once again suit up for the Sixers. Those rumors became much more of a real possibility today as we received a confirmation email this afternoon from NBA and TNT insider David Aldridge that the Sixers executives met with Allen Iverson and his manager Gary Moore in Dallas today to discuss a possible contract.
All we know for sure as of now is that that no contract was signed or agreed to, but that the two sides are not that far apart in the discussions and it is a very real possibility that Allen Iverson will be a Philadelphia 76er once again within a few days. Both sides have confirmed that Allen Iverson will NOT be suited up for the Sixers game against the Dallas Mavericks tonight.
Here is what David Aldridge had to say on NBA.com:
Iverson, his agent, Leon Rose, and his longtime personal manager, Gary Moore, met with the team’s president of basketball operations, Ed Stefanski, assistant general manager and last year’s interim head coach, Tony DiLeo, current head coach Eddie Jordan and assistant coach Aaron McKie, a former teammate of Iverson’s when both played with the 76ers and still a close friend. The meeting, a source said, was for the coaching staff to gauge Iverson’s willingness to be flexible when guard Lou Williams returns from a broken jaw.
Williams, who was injured last week, is expected to miss around 30 games. But the team does not want to retard his development, so it’s likely he would go back into the starting lineup when he’s healthy. That would mean Iverson would likely have to come off the bench, and that’s been a non-starter for him the last two years, resulting in his being kept off the Pistons’ playoff roster last year and having to work out a settlement of his contract with Memphis this year after just three games.
The 76ers are proceeding cautiously in determining whether they want to get back together with Iverson, who was traded to Denver in 2006 after a decade in Philadelphia — at the end of a rancorous period in which Iverson had worn out his welcome with the team’s top management. That included Sixers chairman Ed Snider, whose relationship with Iverson was frayed when he decided to grant Iverson’s request for a trade.
But Snider has signed off on Iverson’s return, leaving it up to Stefanski and the coaching staff, a source said.
