Reports that Allen Iverson Will Play for Maccabi Haifa are False
Reports that retired NBA star Allen Iverson will play for Israel’s Maccabi Haifa basketball team in two upcoming exhibition games against NBA teams are false, a Maccabi representative told JTA.
“The local Israeli press completely made this up,” said Andrew Wilson, director of marketing for Triangle Financial Services, which is chaired by Maccabi Haifa owner Jeffrey Rosen. “We’ve had no contact with Allen Iverson so it’s a fabricated rumor.”
Rosen, who bought the team in 2007, was not available for comment.
Initial reports in the Israeli Sport5 website and later picked up by JTA said that Iverson, 37, will suit up for Haifa when it takes on the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves later this month in the United States. Sport5 had added that Maccabi Haifa officials were considering signing the perennial NBA All-Star guard to a longer contract if the experiment succeeded.
Haifa coach Brad Greenberg was part of the Philadelphia 76ers staff when Iverson starred for the team. Left without a team for this season, Iverson announced his retirement earlier this year. In 2011, Iverson played for the Turkish club Beshiktash. This year he declared bankruptcy.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
