Allen Iverson only wanted to be himself, but he did want to ‘be like Mike’ — and is still starstruck by Jordan

“When I talk about his aura and when I seen him ... he don’t look real,” Iverson said of Jordan.

From left, Allen Iverson and Dikembe Mutombo talk with Michael Jordan during the 2002 NBA All-Star Game in Philadelphia.Read moreGene Puskar / AP / ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published Oct. 16, 2025, 12:14 p.m. ET

Allen Iverson, the Hall of Fame guard and cultural icon, almost never gets starstruck. Almost.

During a speaking engagement Tuesday night at the Theatre of Living Arts to promote his new memoir, Misunderstood, the former Sixers star spoke on a wide range of topics, from his “unique” relationship with Philly fans to why he didn’t want to wear suits after games — “I was going to Friday’s … the club” — and how that decision changed the lives of other NBA players.

Young basketball players grew up wanting to emulate Iverson, both on and off the court, just like Iverson looked up to the best player from the generation before his: Michael Jordan.

Even now, as a fellow Hall of Famer and a peer, Iverson still gets nervous around his idol.

“When I talk about his aura and when I seen him, I still see him today, he don’t look real,” Iverson admitted. “I’ve never seen a human being — I’ve never been starstruck, but I’m like, ‘OK, this one starstruck me.’ This dude, I get nervous around him. I’ve been around him a million times.

“I remember one time we [were] at a game — he invited me to a game — and I’m in the back telling him about who he is to me and what he meant in my life. And my homeboys had to pull me to the side like, ‘Chuck, come here, man. Cut this [expletive] out. You’re embarrassing us.’”

But for Iverson, a former MVP who was named one of the 75 best NBA players of all time, every meeting with Jordan is a chance to siphon some wisdom from the G.O.A.T., something he did from afar as a kid. He likened their relationship to Daniel LaRusso and Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid.

“I mean, how you look makes you play a certain way,” Iverson said. “Like, when I was on the basketball court, I always wanted to look like a superhero. I got it from Michael Jordan. Everything that Allen Iverson is — it was like [Jordan] is Mr. Miyagi, I was Daniel-San. Like, everything Mike [did], I wanted to, actually, I wanted to be like Mike.”

Iverson didn’t have to wait long for an on-court meeting with his Miyagi, which also provided perhaps one of the first signature moments of his career. Late in Iverson’s rookie year during a Sixers-Bulls game, Jordan matched up on the young guard at the top of the key, and the rest is history.

Iverson said trying to “be like Mike” was one of the only times he tried to be anyone other than Allen Iverson.

“I always wanted to be able to look in the mirror and be the person and see the person that my mom and the people where I’m from could recognize,” Iverson said. “I never wanted to be nobody but [Bubba] Chuck [Iverson’s childhood nickname]. Yeah, I wanted to be like Mike. Like, I wanted to be like Mike; I was like everybody else.

“But I felt like it’s like a disrespect to want to be somebody else. What’s wrong with being you? Everybody else is taken up. I’ve always had that mentality, that confidence in myself — never arrogant, never cocky, just confident — and belief in myself. And I always had that.”

The confidence came early for Iverson, who knew from a young age that he was special, in part because everyone around him was telling him so. And that impacted the way he carried himself in the NBA — and why he might have wanted to be like Mike, but only ever wanted to really be himself.

“I was like, 8 … when I was 8-10 years old, [I’d] go to the barbershop, and the older guys [would] be like, ‘Yo, that’s him right there.’ Guys 20 years old, 25 years old, like, ‘Yo, that’s the one right there. That’s the one.’ So, I’ve always had the fame part of my life. I just never had no money. So it was nothing new to me. Like the celebrity, being somebody that everybody could recognize, that was nothing to me. So when all of that changed for me, it was right up my rim. I just always had the confidence in myself to be what I ultimately became.”

Even with all his celebrity, part of Iverson’s core message Tuesday was that he’s still human — and not that different from the hundreds of fans in attendance.

That includes getting starstruck by his idol.

Staff writer Gabriela Carroll contributed to this article.