Allen Iverson is one of the most prolific scorers the NBA has seen in the past 3 decades. Despite clearly being shorter than his listed height of 6’0, AI struck fear in the hearts of defenders who were afraid of getting their ankles broken in front of thousands of people.
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Throughout his career, he earned $154 million and rightfully so. This is quite the amount for a player who was drafted in 1996 given the size of contracts in the 2000s. However, with hundreds of millions of dollars in his bank account, it would soon all fade away due to his frivolous lifestyle.
The nail in the coffin for Iverson in terms of losing what ever money he had left with him was when he had to settle his divorce with Tawanna Iverson. The divorce led to a whopping $3 million being awarded to Tawanna.
Allen Iverson claimed he didn’t have enough money for a cheeseburger
Amidst his divorce proceedings, Allen Iverson tried to explain his financial situation as best he could. In his words, as he stood in court in Atlanta, turned his pants pockets inside out and said, “I don’t even have money for a cheeseburger.”
Quite the heartbreaking sentiment from the Philadelphia 76er legend who had recently retired. Tawanna and Allen actually met one another when they attended rival high schools in Virginia at 16 years of age.
After dating for 10 years, they would get married in 2001 and have a total of 5 children together. Their marriage wasn’t the merriest as Tawanna filed for divorce twice, with the first being in 2009. AI reportedly begged her to withdraw the motion, which she did, only to re-file it a couple months down the line.
How did Allen Iverson spend his money?
Allen Iverson would do everything from buy cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend over $30,000 at a strip club in a single night. Matt Barnes once recalled scooping up already thrown dollar bills off the ground to throw them once again.
However, his biggest flaw was his inability to cut ties with people who simply used him for his wealth. He was taking care of an inordinate number of families back home who were reliant solely off his NBA income to make ends meet. This is where a lot of his money got tied up, eventually leading to bankruptcy.
