“Allen Iverson played in socks for the first 15 minutes”: JJ Redick hilariously recalls the time he saw The Answer show up late to a Sixers practice

ESPN Analyst JJ Redick recalls the time he saw Allen Iverson pull up to practice in his socks and play in them for the first 15 minutes.

Allen Iverson is without a doubt one of the greatest players to have ever picked up a basketball. It is amazing how many things he accomplished despite being just 6 feet tall and 165 pounds.

He has a Hall of Fame career to prove that fact, too. Iverson will be remembered as one of the greatest scorers of all time and as the best short king to step on the court. Additionally, he arguably has the greatest handles in the history of the NBA.

However, it was a public known fact that he wasn’t the biggest fan of practice. We all remember the iconic ‘practice press conference’. Check out the clip here:

#OTD in 2002, Allen Iverson was talking about practice. pic.twitter.com/4W2A2VKvtm

— NBA TV (@NBATV) May 7, 2019

Iverson didn’t seem too enthusiastic about practice, and a recent story by JJ Redick just emphasizes it even more.

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JJ Redick reminisces about the time when he saw Allen Iverson practice in socks with the Sixers.

JJ Redick recently had Kyle Korver on his podcast, The Old Man and the Three, where they began talking about Allen Iverson.

Redick and AI were never part of the same team throughout their years in the NBA. However, they did cross paths. One season, the Sixers held their practice at the Duke University, which Redick was a part of.

JJ hilariously recalls to Korver about the time he saw AI pull up late to practice in socks –

“I just remember going to a practice and AI walked in a tad tardy. He played for the first 15 minutes, live basketball by the way, in socks. I was like, ‘What is happening here?’ Then I would hear these stories about him like they would do a mile run and he would win the mile running the last lap backwards. He was just a freak of nature.”

If there’s anything we know about AI, it’s that he would have given the defenders the work. Even in socks. One can only imagine how great he would have become if he did take practice a bit more seriously.

Also Read: “Allen Iverson was breathing confidence in me”: Kyle Korver describes how the Sixers legend gave him confidence to be a relentless shooter

Practice or not, AI was one of the best ever to do it. Nevertheless, Iverson never let his hate for practice translate to his performances on the court. That’s all that really matters at the end of the day.

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Joe Viju