Allen Iverson: I Always Wanted to be a Sixer

He has expressed many times how much he has loved playing in this city, and how he has wanted to finish off his career here with the team that took him first overall in the 1996 Draft. Now Allen Iverson and the Sixers have helped to solidify this situation by signing a contract extension on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003 at a special event held for 76ers season ticket holders.

"Thinking about making the decision with this contract, a lot of things made me want to stay in Philadelphia," said Iverson to the crowd. "I always wanted to be a Sixer. I always wanted to finish my career as a Sixer. I wanted to stay for a lot of different reasons, but one of the main reasons was because of you all, who come here and support us every night."

"In today's sports, you have a lot of different players who are saying they want to go where the money is or to test the free agent market," said Sixers President and General Manager Billy King. "As Allen said from day one, he always wanted to be a Philadelphia 76er. With this contract, we are telling him we always want him here, as well."

Despite all of the individual honors that he has accumulated over the years, Iverson remains focused on his goal as an NBA player of winning a championship. The closest that he has come was back in 2001 when his Sixers reached the NBA Finals, but fell to the Lakers in five games.

"I'm ready to do whatever it takes to win a championship," said Iverson.

Iverson Honors & Highlights

2001 MVP 56k | 300k 2001 NBA All-Star Game MVP 1997 Rookie of the Year 1999 Shick Rookie Game MVP First Team All-NBA (1999, 2001) Second Team All-NBA (2000, 2002, 2003) NBA Player of the Month (Feb. 1999, Jan. 2001, Jan. 2002) 11-time NBA Player of the Week

The main difference going into the 2003-04 season is that the Sixers are no longer guided by Larry Brown. They now have Randy Ayers at the end of their bench as their head coach. Ayers feels more comfortable going into his first season with this signing out of the way.

"It gives me a certain level of comfort knowing that we have our best player under contract," said Ayers about the signing of Iverson.

And Iverson is ready to go to battle for his new coach, "I'm just going to try to help Coach as much as I can. I know the situation that he is put in."

Iverson continued, "I want to be the dog in his yard that bites when somebody intrudes."

When asked if there was any thought of testing the free agent market, Iverson simply replied "I wanted to be a Sixer."

For more photos, video and news on Iverson, be sure to check out his Player Guide.