Allen Iverson and Michael Carter-Williams both have a couple of things in common: they were both lightning quick guards from the Big East and they ended up being drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. Iverson, of course is recently retired and Carter-Williams is a rising star in the NBA. Nevertheless, Carter Williams has an admiration and respect for Iverson’s body of work during his fourteen year NBA career.

Carter-Williams wasn’t old enough to remember the hey-day of the Chicago Bulls first three-peat from 1991 through 1993. He was only four months old when the Chicago Bulls won their first NBA Championship in 1991 defeating the Los Angeles Lakers. Although Michael Jordan was and is the man on the basketball court, Carter-Williams will be the first to tell you that Allen Iverson was one of his favorite players while growing up.

“I’m a little young for the Jordan-era so I couldn’t see him but I did get to see Kobe, Shaq, Tracy McGrady,” Carter-Williams told The Source.  

Iverson’s number 3 jersey was retired in front of more than 20,000 fans at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Saturday. An 11-time All-Star, Iverson finished his career averaging 26.7 points per game, the sixth-best career scoring mark in NBA league history. Carter-Williams, thinks that it is pretty cool to suit up for a team that one of his favorite players once played for and also thought it was pretty exciting to check out the love Iverson received Saturday night.

“It’s special to see him being celebrated,” he said. “What he did for the city of Philadelphia is just great. To sit in the locker room that he once did is a dream.”  Allen Iverson was no doubt a trendsetter, in the 90s, he organically introduced a fearless style and way of playing basketball that many players in the NBA to this day have embraced. Carter-Williams liked the trends that Iverson brought to the NBA.  ”He’s a big trendsetter,” said Carter-Williams. “Besides Jordan, he was the biggest trendsetter in terms of guys coming in with tattoos now and headbands with braids and sleeves. I think he really was the one who started that off.”

Iverson was the NBA’s Most Valuable Player during the 2000-01 season. He took the Sixers to the NBA Finals that same season where they lost to the eventual champion, the Los Angeles Lakers. He officially announced his retirement on October  30, 2013.