One of the greatest Philadelphia 76ers players of all time, Allen Iverson, says he would put up Wilt Chamberlain-like scoring numbers if he was able to play in today’s version of the league.
During the 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, the man known as “AI” was one of the best basketball players on the planet. Despite being just six feet tall, the first-round pick was a ferocious player who was physical when he went to the basket and was one of the early players to bring a playground style to the league.
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However, the game has changed a lot since Iverson’s heyday. He was a part of the last era where defenses were allowed to be physical with opponents and before offenses were as wide-open and three-heavy as they are today.
It is why during an appearance on Shaquille O’Neal’s “The Big Podcast,” the Los Angeles Lakers legend asked Iverson how he thinks he would do if he played during his prime today.
Philadelphia 76ers icon Allen Iverson had no doubt he could average over 40 points if he played in his prime today
“You played in the era when we were allowed to touch people up. Hand checking up the court … What would you average in the game today,” O’Neal asked.
- Allen Iverson stats (Career): 26.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 6.2 APG, 2.2 SPG
“I lost the scoring title to Kobe the year he averaged 35. I averaged 33. And I’m just thinking, like, if I was to play in this era where it’s wide open if I can average 33 in a season, I’m going to take it up to 43. I know [I can get] ten points more,” said Iverson.
It was an opinion that the Lakers Hall-of-Famer agreed with. Allen Iverson averaged over 30 points per game five times during his career and finished with a career average of 26.7 points per game. Which likely would have been higher if not for several seasons late in his career where he averaged points in the teens per game.