The Philadelphia 76ers recently honored the great Allen Iverson with a statue outside the team’s practice facility in Camden, New Jersey. While this was supposed to be an honor for AI, the fans were outraged by the gesture because the statue was too small. On a recent episode of ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq’, Shaquille O’Neal chimed in on the discussion and suggested some ideas for the franchise to ponder upon.
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Taking a page out of his own tale with the Lakers, Shaq suggested that the 76ers should’ve gone with the iconic crossover AI was known for. He said,
“He’s a legendary figure that would never be forgotten…If you put a nice crossover thing, fans could take pictures in front of it getting crossover.”
Not only that, but Shaq also suggested that they should’ve added a more realistic touch as he did with his Lakers statue. His ‘Dunkman’ statue hangs from the side of the Staples Center building and he wanted AI’s crossover statue to have the same realistic effect.
The Hall of Famer spent almost 14 years in the league and in that time, he produced several iconic moments that are still etched in the memories of the fans. The other panelists on the podcast argued over some of those moments that should have been considered for the statue.
Adam Lefkoe said that the hand-to-the-ear pose would’ve made for a better statue than the one the 76ers went ahead with. Lefkoe and Gillie Da Kid agreed that Iverson stepping over Tyronn Lue would’ve been another great choice for the statue.
Even though these recommendations were good, Shaq believed it should’ve been the crossover with AI’s hands to the ground so that people could take pictures with it pretending to be crossed over by him. The same formula could work with the step-over as well. As far as the original one is concerned, it seems nobody, apart from AI, liked it.
Nobody seems to be happy about the Allen Iverson statue
After unveiling his statue, Iverson said he feels so overwhelmed by the honor that it doesn’t even feel real. Meanwhile, almost everyone else seems to have a problem with the statue but only because of its size. It’s important to note that the 76ers are known for making relatively smaller statues, compared to the other franchises, but even on that scale, the AI statue is underwhelming. Even Gilbert Arenas mocked the franchise by saying it was so tiny that he stole it from outside the facility.
Rapper Ma$e was also disappointed with what the 76ers did with the AI statue. In fact, he even suggested that they should do over the AI statue because it doesn’t feel like an honor to him. He said on ‘It Is What It Is’ podcast,
“If there’s anybody’s statue they can’t mess up, it’s AI, because when you doing Kobe [Bryant] and all those people, they’re so beloved but they’re so tall.”
It’s good that AI is happy with it, or else the Philly franchise would really need to erect another one in his honor.
