If Allen Iverson Can't Win in Turkey, Will He Ever Get Back to the NBA?

(Nov. 22) -- When former NBA No. 1 draft pick and 11-time All-Star Allen Iverson signed with a Turkish basketball club, he portrayed the move as "a chance to get back on track with my basketball career." Presumably, that meant a return to the NBA, where Iverson flamed out last year, not because of his basketball abilities -- though age has taken its toll, he remained a potent offensive threat -- but his on-the-court pouting about his diminished minutes and concerns about his off-the-court partying and general irresponsibility.

But now it's Iverson's basketball skills that are in question. Playing for Besiktas Cola Turka in his Turkish League debut on Sunday, Iverson mustered only two points as his team fell 74-67 to defending champion Fenerbahce Ulker.

Two points. A quick search turned up only one NBA game in which Iverson scored as little. While he was playing for the Detroit Pistons, Iverson scored two points versus the New Orleans Hornets on Feb. 25, 2009. But that was because he got hurt and played only eight minutes of the game. He had two four-point games in the following NBA season -- likely his last -- though he averaged 13.8 points per game for the entire year. From the 2002-2003 to the 2007-2008 seasons, there were only four games in which Iverson played where he didn't finish with double digits.

And while it's true Iverson, 35, spent much of his Turkish League debut on the bench, it's not as if he's facing NBA-caliber competition, as anyone who tuned in to the broadcast on NBA TV could see. Perhaps Iverson will rebound -- he scored 15 points for Besiktas in an earlier losing effort against a non-league opponent. But it's more likely that one of the finest athletes in basketball's history won't end his career in an NBA uniform.

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