Basketball is back, and it’s better than ever because last night also meant the return of the NBA on NBC, a cultural institution that hasn’t been around in over 20 years. Every basketball fan of a certain age can still hear Roundball Rock in their head, with memories of Michael Jordan soaring through the air to accompany it.
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Jordan himself is part of NBC’s coverage, and one of his most famous admirers appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last night to celebrate.
Philadelphia 76ers great Allen Iverson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame nine years ago, but when it comes to MJ, he’s still like those kids in that old Gatorade commercial that want to be like Mike.
“NBC growing up, all I wanted to do was watch Mike,” he said. “That was my hero. He was my vision. He was the reason why everybody knows who Allen Iverson is today, because of him.”
Iverson was a heralded recruit and a First Team All-American at Georgetown. The Sixers drafted him No. 1 overall in the 1996 draft, but he was still starstruck being in the presence of His Airness. “I remember the first time, I was just staring at him and looking at him like, ‘That’s him,'” he remembered.
“I was in awe,” Iverson continued. “That was the first time I was really starstruck. What I remember the most is he didn’t look real to me. That was the first time I saw a human that didn’t look real.”
Iverson compared Jordan’s aura to the way Charlie Murphy saw Rick James from the legendary Chappelle’s Show skit. “He had this aura, like this orange forcefield around him,” he recalled. He said that even today he embarrasses his friends whenever he’s around Jordan because he fawns over him so much.
It speaks to Iverson’s greatness that he was able to put his admiration aside once he got on the court, and he famously once crossed Jordan up and drilled a jumper in his face, a feat so rare that he said people still mention it to him almost every day. Fallon showed it to the live audience and they went wild.
Even that play, one of the most memorable of Iverson’s career, showed him how great Jordan was. While most athletes would have been on the floor with their ankles twisted after being subjected to a move like that, Jordan recovered and nearly blocked the shot.
If NBC was hoping to capture the same magic that it had in the ’90s when Jordan and Iverson and so many other greats were battling it out, then Opening Night couldn’t have turned out much better, as viewers at home were treated to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Alperen Sengun, Steph Curry and Luka Doncic lighting it up.
Jordan said last night in the first installment of his MJ: Insights to Excellence series that he wishes he could take a magic pill and come back and play again. Most fans would love that too, but the game is in good hands with the current crop of stars. It’s also great to have MJ back in any capacity, as he’s kept a low profile for far too long. This is his way of giving back.
