Allen Iverson to Retire a Sixer

The Iverson era is officially drawing to a close, the beloved former Sixer set to hang up his jersey October 30th with the team that started it all.

The Sixers will honor Allen Iverson at their home opener against the Miami Heat with a halftime ceremony celebrating his 17-year career that initially began after a fortuitous NBA Draft at Georgetown in 1996. What followed was a tumultuous relationship with head coach Larry Brown that very nearly resulted in a trade to Detroit (and no one wants to go to Detroit).

Good thing, too, lest we forget the Iverson-lead trip the NBA finals for the Sixers in the 2000-01 season, which earned the team’s star player an MVP award. As everyone probably remembers, the Lakers shut the Sixers out of the finals, though the Sixers did serve as the only team to put up a win against the unstoppable Lakers—even with the Kobe-Shaq feud in full swing at the time.

Iverson’s stint with the Sixers ran out in 2006, the team trading him to he Nuggets, with short runs on the Pistons and Grizzlies following. Iverson did eventually return to the Sixers for a terrible half-season in 2009–his only under coach Eddie Jordan.

That, however, doesn’t change Iverson’s position as the Sixers’ all-time leader in scoring average. After all, they don’t call him “The Answer” for nothing. [CBS]