Allen Iverson: AI Should Retire from Basketball Rather Than Play in Puerto Rico

It's come to the point for Allen Iverson that he might need to travel to Puerto Rico to play basketball in order to return to the NBA.

In other words, it's time for Iverson to hang it up and just retire already.

First, more info on the Puerto Rican league, from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:

"

Iverson's business manger Gary Moore has talked with Puerto Rico officials, and the league's teams are discussing a bidding process to woo Iverson.

The Puerto Rican league, which starts its 30-game season in March, pays its stars about $20,000 a month, plus living expenses, sources said. The league's commissioner is selling Iverson on the chance to work his way back to a possible return to the NBA.

The league is hoping to convince Iverson to take a trip to the island and look closer at the possibility.

"

$20,000 a month certainly isn't chump change, though it's probably a lot less than he's used to making. And the opportunity to live in Puerto Rico for a few months certainly seems ideal.

But at what point does Iverson—who hasn't played in the NBA since 2010—simply give up these ill-fated attempts at returning to the NBA? At what point does it sink in that if teams haven't reached out to him by now or shown interest, they probably aren't going to?

After all, as Wojnarowski noted in his article, "NBA front-office executives say Iverson has had his representatives reach out to teams on his behalf this season, but there’s been no interest in signing him."

Can't spell it out much clearer than that.

Growing up in the Philadelphia area, Allen Iverson was my favorite basketball player of all time when he played with the Sixers. Few players have ever been as athletic, scrappy and downright electrifying as The Answer was at his best.

So seeing the way his career has slowly fizzled away has been hard to watch. His post-Sixers career (his brief return doesn't count) in the NBA and his decision to play basketball in Turkey have taken away from what was, at least in my opinion, a fantastic career.

I know basketball has always been Iverson's life and if he can continue to get paid to play the game he loves and is okay with doing so outside of the NBA, power to him. If I could get paid $20,000 a month to play basketball, I would do that in a heartbeat.

But if this is only about returning to the league, well, I think it's time Iverson acknowledges that isn't in the cards any longer.

It's time to retire those NBA dreams, AI. Even if it means you retire from basketball altogether.

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