Today's NBA would have no answer for the 'Answer'

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Modern NBA defender's would have no answer for the "Answer", Allen Iverson said at HoopsFest in Perth yesterday.

The NBA has changed in the past 25 years to allow more freedom for offensive players and for the Hall of Famer, 2001 MVP, 11-time NBA All-Star and four-time NBA Scoring champion it would mean only one thing.

"It would be ugly for defense," Iverson said.

"Why I’m saying that, not so much of, and this is not in no way taking away from anybody in today’s game, because every era, every decade, it’s hard. It’s professional sports, so it’s gonna be hard, not gonna be easy for anybody.

"Probably Shaq, he probably made it look easier, and then it got hard for him, because a foul on Shaquille O’Neal, if you foul anybody else like that, they would throw you out of the game. So that’s what he had to overcome.

"But when people say, 'Can you compare yourself to certain guys', I can’t really compare because I don’t see my game. I don’t actually see somebody that mirrors my game like that. But I see certain guys with certain speed and an aggressive attitude, how I used to come at you night in and night out, regardless if I was hurt, if I was sick, or something else was on.

"For those couple of hours, that was my safe haven. I never thought about nothing but basketball. So I see that mentality in certain guys.

"But for me, just looking at the game and the way it’s played now, with the court being spaced the way it is and big men out on the perimeter, I’m just thinking like, 'damn'.

"If they play me like that, all I have to do is beat my man. If I get by him, the basket is right there, because the big men are all the way out on the perimeter.

"I started a big debate about what I would average, so we’re not gonna get into that again. But I will say it would be ugly. It would be ugly.

"When I did play and I started getting scoring titles, then they implemented the zone back into the NBA, which never happened before in the history of the NBA. So when you say the way they play now, I think regardless, if I was the only player in that area, they would go back to the old ways when they play the Beast.

"That’s how I would be. So I don’t know how effective I would be."

Iverson, 50, scored 24,368 point (26.7 ppg), pulled down 3,394 rebounds and (3.7 rpg) and dished 5,624 assists (6.2 apg).

He is in Perth as part of the 2026 HoopsFest NBL and WNBL basketball celebration.

Scores of guards have modelled their own games on Iverson's from the moment he stepped onto the floor for the Philadelphia 76ers in 1997.

"It’s an honour," he said.

"It never gets old to hear younger guys talking about the impact that I had on their lives and their games. It’s a blessing.

"I remember when I was that guy and the way I felt about Mike (Michael Jordan), you know what I mean, how I really wanted to be like Mike and what he meant to me and how instrumental he was to my development as a basketball player.

"The world wouldn’t know Allen Iverson if it wasn’t for Michael Jordan giving me that vision of wanting to be a basketball player.

"So to hear that somebody took a lot from my game, it’s a blessing. It’s an honour to be able to impact someone’s game that has so much success.

"It makes me feel like I did something right in my career."

Iverson, who has only just arrived, said he hadn't met any of Australia's NBL or WNBL players but that would change before HoopsFest was over, including five-time NBL MVP Bryce Cotton.

"Trust me, for the time that I’m gonna be here, that’ll change definitely, hopefully," he added.

"And the most important thing for me, and I kind of alluded to it a little earlier, is just the impact that I can have and what I can give, you know, as far as obviously the basketball part of it all because I’ve had a lot of success in my career.

"But I just think about the little things that I might be able to add, you know what I mean, that someone might be going through trying to get to where they’re trying to get to in their career. Because I’ve been through so much through my whole ten year of playing basketball, and not just the NBA experience. You go through a lot trying to get there as well.

"And to be honest with you, and which I’ve known for 15 years, 16 years afterwards you go through a lot after. And I’ve experienced all of those things. So just my experiences in itself can answer a lot of questions that guys may have to ask.

"I’m definitely looking forward to meeting him (Cotton) and chopping it up with him a little bit."

Iverson also addressed the speculation he was courted by the Sydney Kings.

"That was rumblings," he said.

"That was rumblings. That’s just who I am as a basketball player too and how much I love the game. I just wanted to play.

"There was a time where I wanted to play basketball and I wanted to play somewhere. The most important thing, I think, with a basketball player or anybody in life is you love to be wanted. You love for somebody to want you.

"At certain points in my life and in my career, that was important for me, for somebody to wanna embrace me and feel like they needed me to be successful at anything in life."

Iverson is part of the HoopsFest fan experience as well attending games today, tomorrow and Sunday.