(ThyBlackMan.com) Several sources in the NBA are stating that basketball star Allen Iverson is having serious problems with alcohol and gambling. The issues are significant and are threatening his career. Iverson has only played in 25 games this season for his current team, the Philadelphia 76ers, and his points per game average has dropped to less than half of what it was just three years ago. Iverson recently announced that he was leaving the team to deal with his daughter’s illness, but there are concerns that he “will either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away.”
Iverson’s gambling issues are well-known. He has been banned from casinos in Detroit and Atlantic City, N.J., according to Stephen A. Smith, who 
recently wrote an article about Iverson’s situation.
Iverson recently posted four messages on his Twitter account, stating that he is going through “some very tough times.” He also had this to say:
“To my fans: You all know that my life isn’t perfect. I am going through some very tough times right now, like I am sure that we all do from time to time. However, I will stand tall like always with ‘rhino’ thick skin.”
Iverson’s wife, Tawanna, recently filed for divorce on March 4. That was the same day Iverson announced that he would not return for the rest of the season. His wife is seeking custody of the couple’s five children in addition to child support and alimony, further adding to Iverson’s financial concerns.
Iverson stated on his Twitter account that he grows tired of hearing things that aren’t true.
“Even though I have become used to hearing people say things about me that aren’t true, it still hurts,” Iverson wrote. “I encourage you to continue your ongoing support and I want you to trust that this is another obstacle in my life that, with God’s help, I will overcome.”
I have always loved Allen Iverson both as an athlete and a person. I never judged him negatively, when he was a young man getting in to trouble in Virginia. I always respected his toughness on the court and the football field and saw him as a champ among champs.
At the same time, I’ve always been concerned about how the sense of immortality thrust upon athletes can lead them to feel that their lives can never be ruined. When a man’s ego is filled with easy access to wealth, women and power, he can find himself in some of the deepest, darkest and most regrettable holes that the human mind can imagine.
Gambling addiction is an incredibly serious problem and an easy path to financial ruin. When gambling addiction is mixed with drugs or alcohol, the trouble grows five fold. As a family man, Iverson has put himself in to a position where everything he’s worked for and all that he loves is now in jeopardy. His steep and steady decline in basketball productivity over the past four years only serves to worsen the impact that his personal vices have had on other facets of his life.
Here is my recommendation to Allen Iverson:
1) Get help: Enroll in a program for alcohol and/or gambling addiction immediately. You’ve made a ton of money in your career, and you don’t want to lose whatever you have left.
2) Get back on the basketball court and start working out again: Find a way to recapture what you’ve lost over the past four years. You’re still young enough to have a few very productive seasons and perhaps a good life in the NBA after basketball. Allen Iverson without basketball is not Allen Iverson at all. When you started losing your mojo on the court, you give up your greatest source of power. Let’s be real: Similar to Bobby Knight, people only put up with your antics off the court, because they couldn’t replace you on the court. Now, you’ve made yourself replaceable, and like Bobby Knight, all of your enemies and “haterologists” are going to line up to boot you out of the league.
3) Rebalance your family situation: If you need to get a divorce, then do it. If you want to reconcile, then see a counselor. Either way, your volatile home life can undermine your ability to get your professional life back in order. You’ve got to address that and fix it immediately.
4) Prepare for the future: Allen Iverson has always lived and worked as if his life were expected to be short. He is a fearless beast on the court and an iron man in everything he does. Perhaps now it’s time for the iron man to prepare to become an old man. It happens to everyone, and Iverson needs to wonder what he might do in the event that he ends up living another 40 or 50 years. The Allen Iverson story has quite a few chapters remaining, so Allen had better think carefully about his financial and personal moves as he steps in to the future.
Written By Dr. Boyce Watkins
