Iverson's riches-to-rags saga has no easy answers

On many nights, he was the lightning rod for attention in a league already overflowing with talent and celebrity.

At his best, he was an inspiration to fans who marveled at how someone so slight could make such a huge impact on the NBA.

At his worst - and that covers a lot of days - he was a high-maintenance pain in the shorts. His detractors were many. To them, he was everything that was wrong with the culture of pro basketball.

A polarizing figure? Yeah, you could say that. Nobody has ever been neutral about Allen Iverson.

But though he represented a lot of things, both good and bad, to a lot of people, Iverson never was a laughingstock. Or a punch line.

Is he becoming one now?

The Rochester Lancers, the Major Indoor Soccer League franchise in New York, have offered Iverson a contract. They want him to join their team for the last two games of the regular season.

The Lancers have said they would pay Iverson $20,000 a game, with a $5,000 bonus for every goal he scores, plus additional bonuses for how much merchandise he moves.

"With his athleticism and competitive hunger," Lancers vice president Rich Randall said, "I think he can be a great fit with our team and fans as we make an important playoff push, while also driving interest to an exciting, growing sport."

This is nothing more than a crass publicity stunt, of course. But even worse, it's a cynical attempt to capitalize on Iverson's reported money problems.

The offer comes in the wake of the news that Iverson has blown through most of his career earnings - a breathtaking $150 million.

The story came to light after a Georgia judge ordered Iverson to pay a jeweler in the neighborhood of $860,000. Reportedly, Iverson can't come up with the money, so his bank account has been seized and his fortune, or what is left of it, is to be garnished.

At 36, Iverson needs work, but suitors are in short supply. His age is the biggest factor working against him, but it doesn't help that his legacy is shadowed by a reputation for being difficult on coaches.

His greatest accomplishment on court came in 2001, when he was league MVP and carried an otherwise mediocre 76ers team to the NBA Finals.

But the years and the way he threw himself around like a rag doll took their toll. After his light burned out in Philadelphia, Iverson's career experienced a rapid descent through Denver, Detroit and Memphis.

By the time he resurfaced in Turkey in late 2010, playing in a 3,500-seat arena, stories already were circulating that he was broke.

Rumor has it that he might return to Turkey. If not, Puerto Rico's pro league has also been mentioned. Iverson is in no position to be picky.

It's reported that 60 percent of NBA players become financially insolvent within five years of leaving the league, but even among that tragic group, has anybody ever burned through $150 million?

Iverson's spending habits have been widely chronicled. As a Sixer, he traveled with a hairstylist. The money he owes the Atlanta jeweler is a stunning figure, but maybe not that surprising considering Iverson's legendary appetite for diamonds and gold.

Though once-rich athletes lose their money all the time on bad investments and failed marriages, the style in which Iverson blew his millions invites even less sympathy.

Squandering enormous riches is a fool's work, but should it change attitudes a little - perhaps soften criticism - that some of Iverson's fortune was spent on his ubiquitous posse, a large group consisting mostly of people he's known for years from his old neighborhood in Hampton?

There's been no word on what Iverson thinks of the mocking invitation to serve as a one-man sideshow for an indoor soccer team.

But though it's not likely he'll accept the offer, the story resonates as one more reminder that Iverson's career is ending on a note of desperation.

Bob Molinaro, 757-446-2372, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com, Twitter@BobMolinaro