No one knows if the final chapter in the Allen Iverson biography has been written. The 2008/2009 season was one to forget, in fact it was hard to remember that AI has been the league’s most valuable player and the most prolific scorer of his NBA generation. No, time and trades may have gotten the best of him but if this is it, he has has an epic career.

Here, at Electro-Mech, we not only produce electronic basketball scoreboards but we also provide you with information on basketball history, news and trends. Check out our other articles on all things basketball. For now, let’s focus on an incredible NBA player: Allen Iverson.

Allen Iverson was great at basketball from the outset. Even though his diminutive stature made a professional career unlikely, AI was driven to play. Listed as 6-feet tall and 180 pounds, he still looks very small compared to even the average guard. Any biography of Allen Iverson would begin with his high school years at Bethel High School in Hampton, Virginia. There he not only guided his football team to the state championship as their quarterback but also lead their basketball team in scoring. Even at this early age, Iverson was involved in a bowling alley fight severe enough that he was arrested a brought to trial. After a felony conviction was pardoned by the governor and Iverson was released from jail, the famed John Thompson of the Georgetown Hoyas came personally to AI and convinced him to join him the following year.

The next chapter in the Allen Iverson biography catches up with him at Georgetown. As usual, Iverson excelled on the court and had issues off of it. In his two years there, he was chosen as Big East Defensive Player of the Year twice and set the all time scoring average record at 23.3 points per game. Needing the money to help his very poor family and to support his new family, Allen decided to leave coach Thompson after two years as a Hoya. He is one of the few that has left Thompson early.

He, of course, was drafted first by the Philadelphia 76ers and promptly signed a contract with them and with Reebok that brought him a total of $54 million dollars. He is an example of the rare case that was worth it for everyone. His crossover, speed and his incredible knack for scoring defined an era for the 76ers who had very little to cheer for since Dr. J hung up those big shoes years before. As a rookie, Allen excelled as always and won Rookie of the Year easily. He averaged 23.5 points per game which lead his team and was 6th in the NBA overall! He was also 7th in steals in the league that year and 11th in rebounds. He was already on his way to becoming the third most prolific scorer in league history. Most of the highlights of his career came as a Sixer: he won league Most Valuable Player in 2001, guided them to the finals in the same year, and was twice elected the MVP of the All Star Game.

Off the court, he continued to struggle. There were driving arrests, gun arrests, fighting arrests, skipping practices and on and on. But on the court he performed. If his career ends now, he will have been the third highest scorer per game in league history and will have been one of the best ball stealers the game has seen. His many fans (his jersey was still the fifth most popular in the 2008-2009 season) do not want to see the basketball chapter of the Allen Iverson biography close just yet.