Former 76ers star and future NBA Hall of Famer Allen Iverson finally has another job offer, but it’s not in first sport of choice.
The Rochester, N.Y., Lancers of the seven-team Major Indoor Soccer League have offered him a contract to join them, the team announced. Lancers Vice President Rich Randall confirmed yesterday that the organization has talked with Iverson’s agent over the weekend about paying the athlete $20,000 per game and a $5,000 bonus for each goal he scores.
Unlike the offer from Turkish basketball team Bestikas or any offers with Puerto Rican basketball league teams, the Lancers situation would allow him to stay near his home turf, as home games are played in upstate New York.
Still, the money would be a big paycut for an athlete who average $168,000 per game during his 914-game NBA career. In 2008-2009 with Detroit, when he made his highest salary ever — more than $20 million — he clocked in at $347,000 per game.
“Right now, we kind of have a beautiful scenario in terms of a great community and really great sponsors who have steped up in our first season,” Randall said, noting that the high salary for Iverson would be for the team’s playoff push this week. The team has two regular season games left: Thursday and Sunday. “This whole idea stemmed from a few weeks ago. We’re on the cusp of making playoffs or not.”
Iverson, who is rumored to be in need of income after spending the $154,000,000 in salary during his 14-year career, has been in and out of the news for months during a futile search for work.
Watching ESPN and watching sports media, there are players now really making headlines, one is Jeremy Lin and in the top five is Allen Iverson,” Randall said. “Jeremy obviously has a pretty busy NBA schedule right now.
Number facts
$5K
Bonus per goal scored offered to Iverson by Rochester in addition to his salary. The team touted that the indoor soccer league’s games average 12 goals per contest
$4,590K
Salary per point that Iverson earned in his 2000-2001 NBA MVP season when he scored 2,207 points. The Sixers paid him $10,130,000 as he led them to an NBA Finals appearance.
$11M
Average annual salary during Iverson’s 14-year career
$2M
Average annual salary during Iverson’s brief career in the Turkish basketball league
