The Philadelphia 76ers honored Hall of Famer Allen Iverson on Friday with a sculpture on "Legends Walk" outside their practice facility in Camden, New Jersey.
"I've accomplished a lot of things in my career, but this is the cream of the crop," Iverson said at the ceremony. "It don't get too much better than this."
He added, "It don't even seem real."
Here's a look at the sculpture, via the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey:
Allen Iverson’s sculpture. #Sixers pic.twitter.com/pWw71FBQbk
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) April 12, 2024
It is possible that, upon first seeing the 6-foot, real-life version of Iverson next to the sculpture, your first thought is: Why is it so small? Unlike, say, Dirk Nowitzki's 23-foot bronze statue outside of American Airlines Center in Dallas, it's definitely not larger than life.
The answer to that question is simple: It's not that kind of statue. In fact, the word "statue" is not used in the Sixers' official press release about it. (It is, oddly, in the URL, however.) Size-wise, Iverson's sculpture appears to be in keeping with the nine other sculptures it has joined on Legends Way. The sculptor, Chad Fisher, also created the sculptures of Charles Barkley, Wilt Chamberlain, Maurice Cheeks, Billy Cunningham, Julius Erving, Hal Greer, Bobby Jones, Moses Malone and Dolph Schayes.
Allen Iverson joins Sixers royalty with his own statue at the 76ers' practice facility! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/xPRtGkFLEw
— NBA (@NBA) April 12, 2024
forever etched in 𝙎𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙃𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮. pic.twitter.com/W8iBhAdsL0
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 12, 2024
the unveil from the 🔝. pic.twitter.com/njB9wWwanj
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) April 12, 2024
Before Iverson spoke, Sixers coach Nick Nurse said, "I'm going to fight my ass off to get this team back to where [Iverson] took 'em a long time ago" and reminisced about Iverson "playing with so much heart."
"Your heart was so much of everything," Nurse said. "You just saw it every night out there, and I think it leaves or has left or will leave forever a foundation of what this city stands for and how guys need to play the game."
Eric Snow, Iverson's former teammate in Philadelphia, said, "All I knew was that every night we stepped out on the court, I was going to have somebody that was going to give everything that he could."
The Sixers will also honor Iverson on Sunday with a celebration prior to tipoff at their regular-season finale against the Brooklyn Nets.
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