Broken dreams turned into fuel for this NBA legend, as it was football that happened to be his passion: did you know that Allen Iverson used to play the high-contact sport in high school? AI’s coach and Boston Celtics legend John Thompson sternly talked him out of his obsession with football and got him into basketball. Although he had to let go of his first love, AI has no regrets and is grateful that his coach helped him make the decision.

Allen Iverson is widely regarded as one of the greatest scorers and shooting guards of basketball, ever. The 11x NBA All-Star is a highly accomplished athlete even though his dream of becoming an NFL pro couldn’t come to fruition. However, the veteran never misses a chance to reminisce about what it was like for him to play football.

During his recent appearance on The Starting Five, a podcast hosted by the hip-hop icon Jadakiss and Set Free Richardson. AI was asked about his short-lived football journey. The NBA veteran said that people think he is crazy when he tells them just how good he was as a football player. Unfortunately, Iverson’s dream could not go past high school as he was advised by his coach to pursue basketball. He said, “I remember I went in there one day, like coach, man, I want to play football like what do you think? I can’t even express the vulgar language in which he told and from that point, I never thought about playing football again.”

Allen Iverson believed that basketball was a soft sport

Before he became the Allen Iverson of basketball, a Hall of Famer and arguably the most influential athlete in NBA’s history, Iverson believed that basketball was a soft sport. He was already in love with football, which is way more aggressive, so making that change was a tough one for him. He said, “Football was like, my favorite sport. I remember the first time my mom wanted me to play basketball. I came home from school and she told me I was going to basketball practice and I cried all the way and said, ‘I don’t wanna play basketball,’ because I felt basketball was soft.”

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To this day, AI believes that he was a much better player in football, and had he pursued that dream, he would have been just as popular and accomplished if not more in that sport as well. Even though there’s no way to check the truth in that claim, hoop fans will forever be grateful that he played the sport we all love.

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