The Philadelphia 76ers unveiled a statue of team legend Allen Iverson at the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex in Camden.
The former MVP and 11-time NBA All-Star will forever be featured performing his signature crossover outside of the practice facility.
The internet’s reaction was pretty quick and unanimous; It’s kind of small.
At 6-foot, Iverson was half a foot shorter than the average NBA player. The — admittedly valid — decision to have his statue posing in the 1997 Rookie of Year’s signature crossover may have accentuated that size discrepancy more than capturing his iconic stepover. Some compared the size to a trophy.
Some even recreated how the statue itself might have fared in “the Answer’s” place.
One person took a guess at how AI must felt receiving the honor.
CBS Sports’ John Gonzalez was reminded of when the team celebrated retiring Iverson’s No. 3 jersey by giving him a fishing boat.
Some were quick to draw on pop culture references from when Iverson was in his prime, including “Like Mike” and “Austin Powers.”
Let’s save questions about why the statues are at the training complex and not the Wells Fargo Center for another time, but Iverson’s statue joins several other Sixers greats on Legends Walk in front of the building.
Associated Press reporter Dan Gelston put things into perspective (literally) with an explanation that the statue is meant to be that size, and is similar to the rest of the legends walk inductees.
Eliot Shorr-Parks also weighed in with some measured and rational thoughts about the small details of the statue’s composition.
Will either of these stop social media from calling it a teeny totem? Probably not. But at the end of the day the one person who matters was happy and proud to be honored among Philadelphia basketball’s greats.
