Report: Iverson to announce retirement, or is he?
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Report: Iverson to announce retirement, or is he?
Allen Iverson is reportedly set to have a news conference today to announce his retirement from basketball.
However, Iverson's personal manager Gary Moore, told the Associated Press that Iverson "totally disputes" any report of his retirement. Moore said he and Iverson spoke today.
Iverson has been playing for the Turkish team Besiktas. He recently suffered an ankle injury and is returning to the United States for surgery.
Moore said Iverson needs to have a painful lesion removed from his right calf. He said the injury is the most painful that Iverson has had in his career.
“It has to be removed and tested to see if it’s benign or not,” Moore told the AP. “Once that’s removed, Allen is going to look to rehabilitate his leg because the doctors tell him he’ll be out four to six weeks, He’s hoping to be able to play in the playoffs.”
The report was originally in the Turkish newspaper Ajansspor, which quoted Iverson as saying, "Leaving the basketball world makes me sad but, sometimes, we have to accept things like they are. I can say goodbye to basketball,” he said.
A team spokesman said the team would determine Iverson's future after another MRI this week.
Iverson, who spent part of last season in his second tour with the Sixers, was playing in Turkey after no NBA teams offered him a contract for this season.
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hopefully he is not broke— hannigan
Comment removed.- this kid never got the proper send off for a tremendous career. always gave it his all, no matter what issues he had off the court— jsavino
- AI was fun to watch but sadly is the case of many young men who never listen to the old timers. So many of the NBA's former greats would say he needed to respect the game, lose the posse, save his money, chill on the drinking/gambling. He never listened to any of them. As hard as it is to believe he quite possibly could end up from a $100 mil man back to poverty where many other athletes from poor backgrounds never look back.— JonKap
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
