15 stars you forgot played for the Detroit Pistons
By Amaar Burton
3. Allen Iverson
As banged-up as he was at 33 years old in 2008, there was still some hope — and with good reason — that Allen Iverson was still at or at least near the top of his game when he arrived in Detroit via trade from the Denver Nuggets.
During his first 10 seasons with the 76ers, Iverson led the league in scoring four times, led the league in steals three times, led his team to the NBA Finals in 2001, and won league MVP that same year.
After he was traded to Denver, Iverson averaged 26.4 points, 7.1 assists and 2.0 steals in his only full season with the Nuggets. He actually led the league in minutes that year.
Iverson was famous for taking hits and playing through pain, and he was still putting up All-Star numbers in Denver. So despite his age and medical report, the Pistons were willing to trade franchise legend Chauncey Billups and two other players to bring in Iverson.
It was in Detroit, however, that Iverson’s game undeniably started to fall off. During his first and only season with the Pistons, Iverson averaged 17.4 points, 4.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game; not only his career-low in scoring, but also the first time he dipped below 20 points per game in his career.
Iverson was shut down prior to the 2009 NBA Playoffs, and there remains conflicting reports on why that happened. The team said Iverson had a back injury, but two days before that announcement, Iverson had told the media he would rather retire than come off the bench — and it was rumored that Pistons president Joe Dumars had been pushing for Iverson to be moved to the bench in order to give young point guard Rodney Stuckey more of a featured role.
Detroit didn’t re-sign Iverson that summer, and he joined the Memphis Grizzlies. He only played three games for Memphis before leaving the team, again amid reports and rumors that he vehemently opposed the idea of coming off the bench.
Later that season, Iverson returned to Philadelphia to finish his Hall of Fame career with the Sixers.