With his second-to-none ball-handling skills, Allen Iverson was nothing short of an artist on the floor. Off the court, AI has an artistic hobby that most people wouldn’t associate with his personality. Most players have a hobby, and it ends up becoming something they do to pass the time or find their peace.
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What poker is to Michael Jordan, coding to Chris Bosh, and violin to Pau Gasol, Iverson finds his peace in drawing. During an interview with The Players’ Tribune in 2018, AI revealed the artistic side of him.
He said, “I love to draw.” Picturing Iverson with his canvas and other drawing equipment isn’t easy. AI’s larger-than-life personality and the kind of lifestyle he enjoyed wouldn’t let us think that he enjoys the mundanity of artistic expression through drawing. The former MVP was aware of it. He said, “A lot of people don’t know that about me.”
Iverson’s love for drawing wasn’t merely a hobby, it served a purpose. Despite all his flair, Iverson was not one to confront people on the floor. However, he played in the era when the league had some of the most elite trash-talkers of all time, doing what they did best every other night. In order to not only survive but also make a name for himself, he dealt with trash-talking in his own unique way.
Allen Iverson used to turn his competitors into cartoons
AI said, “See, I’m from the era where dudes would try to talk your ear off on the court: Gary, Reggie, KG, Kobe…that whole generation. And the reason they talked so much? It’s because that was their way of finding an edge.”
His way of getting an edge over the competition was, “Say something I don’t like, get on my bad side? I’d be liable to cartoon you up.” Iverson revealed that he’d sit with a pen, paper, and ink and start outlining the worst features of people he just butted heads with. Making such caricatures of his rivals did help take the edge off for Iverson as he wasn’t all too interested in verbal on-court spats.
The competition didn’t stand a chance against his artistic onslaught because no one knew what AI really did with those drawings. What’s important is that it helped him get over the verbal battle that happened on the floor where he couldn’t say much. “I’m telling you all, it was cold. Nobody out there was (or is!) wanting to be on the wrong end of my pen,” he said.
It will be an interesting insight into the mind of the NBA legend if he ever decides to release a few of his original artworks.
