Well, it finally happened. After dealing with a summer of swirling trade rumors, and a lackluster start to the season, Allen Iverson wants to be traded.
Jarring as it was to hear Sixers chairman Ed Snider grant an interview during the Philly-Washington game and declare that Iverson has “probably” played his last game as a Sixer, this outcome can’t really surprise you.
The Sixers had to know that this would bubble over in the most toxic fashion after seriously discussing an Iverson trade with Boston during the June draft, offering up Iverson around the league in July, pulling him off the market when the team was up for sale over the summer and reporting for training camp in October with virtually no changes to a group that, by the end of last season, couldn’t guard anyone or stand each other.
Iverson could land just about anywhere, but his salary ($60 M for three years, including this season) makes things difficult. The first team that jumps to mind is Minnesota.
If the Wolves are set on keeping KG under any circumstances and KG is determined to finish his career in ‘Sota, as both parties have long maintained, it makes too much sense. Garnett and Iverson need each other.
But it goes even deeper than mere desperation.
Garnett is the game’s most unselfish superstar and actually wants to play with a ball-dominating guard.
Iverson has never been easy for guys to play with, is forever resistant to authority and punctuality and, as you might have heard once or twice, not the biggest fan of practice. Yet you suspect that KG might be the one potential teammate out there with the juice to hold him accountable.
For both players’ sakes, I hope it happens. KG should get a shot at a ring and AI might be the piece that helps the Timberwolves get back into the upper echelon of the league. AI and KG are 31 and 30, respectively, so they would probably have a two- or three-year window in which to win a title.
I just don’t know if Kevin McHale has what it takes to pull off a trade of this magnitude. In the NBA, teams have to match salaries when trading players, which means that the Wolves would have to put together a package of players that totaled at least $15 M to Philadelphia. Ricky Davis ($6.4 M) would almost certainly be included. As would Randy Foye ($2.4 M), the Wolves’ most valuable trade bait. It’s doubtful that Mike James ($5.2 M) and AI could co-exist, so he’s another prime candidate to be moved.
Such a trade would gut the team’s backcourt depth, leaving the Wolves with Troy Hudson, Marko Jaric and Trenton Hassell (and AI) as the team’s only healthy guards. This makes it more likely that a third team will need to get involved, which makes the deal all the more complicated and less likely to be completed, especially with McHale running things.
