The “Should NBA teams be allowed to rest their star players when they’re healthy?” debate has raged for several years now. It’s picked up steam of late, as the reigning NBA champion Cavaliers have taken to resting their stars—LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love.
This is controversial because fans pay for tickets expecting to see the stars.
Then when that team comes to town—usually it happens when a contender is playing a bottom-feeder—the main attractions are nowhere to be found. You can understand the dilemma.
So can Allen Iverson. “To each his own,” he says. But that doesn’t mean he’s fond of it.
Today Iverson appeared on ESPN’s pregame coverage prior to 76ers-Lakers; it's his Hall of Fame night in Philadelphia. Jalen Rose, who competed with Iverson for years, asked him how he felt about “healthy scratches.” Iverson, while respectful, kept it 100.
“It’s different to me,” he said. “I never thought anything like that would happen. A guy like myself, love to compete night in, night out, tired, hurt, you know what I mean, it doesn’t matter. But to each his own. If it helps those guys and helps their team, then so be it.”
But how would he have responded if his coach tried to sit him down when he was healthy?
“It would have been a big problem,” Iverson said. “It definitely would have been a big problem. We would have definitely had it out, and hopefully I would’ve come out on top.”
It was great to see Iverson appear on ESPN’s coverage. We hope to see the living legend grace our screens more in the future.
It's Allen Iverson Hall of Fame night in Philadelphia. Relive some of The Answer's career highlights. https://t.co/TvxHE7gUZ0
