Hall of Famer Allen Iverson revealed that he has been sober for six months. While speaking to CBS News’ Maurice DuBois for CBS Mornings about his upcoming memoir, “Misunderstood,” the Philadelphia 76ers legend shared how important that decision has been for him.
“One of my best decisions that I ever made in my life was to stop drinking,” Iverson said.
When asked how he feels since making that decision six months ago, the 11-time All Star says he feels, “Better than I did when I was doing it.”
“When you get drunk, you’re not how you usually are,” Iverson said. “The more and more I see it on other people, the more and more it makes me happy about the decision. And the more and more I see how the people around me appreciate it, I love it.”
Iverson also shared the reasoning behind the decision to write a memoir, as well as why he titled it “Misunderstood.”
“With this book, you’re hearing it from the horse’s mouth,” Iverson said. “Misunderstood comes from, you think you know but you have no idea. There’s a lot of things that people have said about me throughout my career. A lot of those things hurt. Calling me a thug, when I know I’m not. Judging me off of a look. I think that was one of the toughest things I really had to deal with.”
During his Hall of Fame career, Iverson drew ire from the league office for the way he dressed when showing up to games. His style, which typically consisted of baggy jeans, oversized T-shirts and jerseys, chains and hats, was not the image former league commissioner David Stern wanted to promote. Ahead of the 2005-06 season, the league instituted a “business casual” dress code, which explicitly stated that players could no longer wear things like chains, T-shirts and sunglasses indoors. Though Iverson was never publicly named as the reason for the dress code, it was apparent at the time that his style was what the league wanted to get rid of.
“It was something that the NBA had never seen,” Iverson said. “We had never seen anybody coming in here dressing like this with the diamond chains, watches and cornrows. Right now, all of these guys in the NBA have their own unique personalities. And dressing means a lot to them. Now I get the flowers for it from them.”
Iverson became an icon for the way he played and for the way he transformed NBA fashion. He has been retired for 12 years, but his influence on players is still evident today, both on and off the court.
