Could Allen Iverson Really Come Back To the Denver Nuggets?

Today a report broke about perennial All-Star Allen Iverson looking for a new team, as he’s not yet ready to quit playing the game he loves—NBA basketball.

The fact that A.I. still has the burn inside that makes him yearn for an ever elusive championship is not surprising. What is surprising is that the Denver Nuggets came up as one of the teams he’d like to play for.

Sure, Iverson said he liked it in Denver when he played here—and he and Carmelo Anthony became friends—but A.I. was an experiment gone wrong in the Mile High city.

The Nuggets were the highest scoring team in the league in his year and a half.  Iverson averaged better than 25 points per game in Denver, but the Nuggets' only option was to outscore every team they played as A.I. and Melo were liabilities on the defensive end. Even though Denver scored more than anyone else from 2006-08, it was a two-headed monster with little to no ball movement.  And if either were off, the team was likely to lose.

Plus, Melo learned from A.I. that he could focus solely on scoring instead of working on becoming a well-rounded player.

And when asked about the possibility of Iverson being a Nugget again, head coach George Karl did not dismiss the idea totally, saying he would consider it if the team suffered a major injury—the likes of a Chauncey Billups going down probably.

There are other possible suitors for the once great Iverson, in the Cavaliers and Knicks, and apparently New York may be the answer for A.I.  The New York Times’ Howard Beck blogged that “Allen Iverson will become a free agent Thursday evening and he might become a Knick soon after that.”

And Pardon the Interruption hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon agreed saying the “Knicks appear to be the chief team among [the suitors].”

Hearing Iverson’s name come up as a potential Nugget wasn’t as exciting this time around, it was more surprising. But A.I. will not be calling Denver his home team again unless a fluke injury occurs for the Nuggets; and it’s better for all parties anyway.

Iverson wants to be a starter, and the Nuggets don’t need him for recognition or scoring anymore. Even if A.I. never gets his coveted championship, he’s still one of the most exciting players in the Association to watch, so hopefully he can find somewhere to play for the rest of this season—just not in Denver.