Allen Iverson Live

Allen Iverson’s deal with Turkish basketball club is almost a done deal.  The president of Turkey’s Besiktas basketball team says he has a verbal agreement to sign a $2 million contract with Allen Iverson.

“I’m going to New York on Friday,” said Seref Yalcin, the president of the Besiktas basketball team. “I talked to Allen and his manager yesterday, Gary Moore. He said there’s no problem; he’s able to sign. Friday, I’ll be there, and we’ll probably sign Sunday. And Monday, I’ll bring him with me.”

Yalcin said he was offering the former NBA star $1.5 million in addition to a half-million dollar signing bonus for a two-year contract.

“This is a major advertisement for Turkish basketball. Besiktas’ value as a brand has increased. Everyone is talking about this and Besiktas,” Yalcin said.

The Besiktas president predicted that Iverson would take his team to the top of Turkey’s Champions League.

“He’s going to bring lots of fans into our arena,” Yalcin said. “If he plays with even 50 percent of his NBA capacity, that will be enough. This will also be good for Turkish basketball in general since he will inspire the youngsters here.”

Yalcin said he has offered Iverson housing, transport, school for his five children and an assistant/translator who will be on call 24 hours a day to help the American athlete operate in Turkey’s sprawling commercial capital.

Yalcin predicted that Iverson would be able to play with Besiktas in a game scheduled for November 7.

The Turkish basketball season has just begun, and Besiktas has a record of one win and one loss.

It appears that Allen Iverson is on the verge of signing for the Turkish team.  It is said that it’s “a matter of time”, according to Gazet Evatan.

The salary is thought to be $1.5 million with a $500,000 bonus for the team winning the league championship or making it to the EuroCup Final Four, according to the site.

Evatan notes that “more and more details arrive about the negotiations and everything seems to show that a deal could be reached very soon.”

After news broke that Allen Iverson is considering playing in Turkey, Iverson’s former hall-of-fame coach Larry Brown has openly stated that he did not want to see Allen Iverson end his career playing in Turkey.

“Nobody who has done as much as Allen has done for this league should have to be in Turkey playing, to end his career,” Brown told Fan House’s Tim Povtak. “We have one of the most special players ever in our sport, who still has something left. I feel terrible about this. That is not how he should be ending his career.”

“I remember an NBA coaches’ meeting this summer, someone from the NBA staff, talking to me about ‘hey this is not the way Allen should be ending his career,’ ” Brown said. “The commissioner (David Stern) doesn’t want to see it happen like this. I feel terrible about it. He did so much for me, and my career.”

I think that we all agree that Allen Iverson deserves better.  Let’s hope he find his way…

Wow, this news came as a complete surprise.  It appears that Allen Iverson is close to signing a deal with Turkish team Besiktas on a one-year contract that could pay him as much as $2 million with bonuses, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

“We are in very serious negotiations with [Besiktas],” Iverson’s business manager Gary Moore told Yahoo! Sports. “Istanbul is beautiful from everything we’ve learned. It’s not that far from the U.S., and the competition is good which makes it all attractive.

“Allen wants to play basketball.”

Besiktas sent a contract to Iverson on Monday and hopes he’ll sign it by week’s end. Still, one source said Iverson could take as long as 10 days to finalize the deal.

Besiktas is considered third among the three most powerful franchises in the Turkish first division and starts league play over the weekend. Besiktas has a strong following in Turkey, and team officials believe Iverson could be an immense gate draw.

Besiktas has had financial problems and, according to a report by Eurobasket.com, has recently been targeted by a suit brought by American player, Lonnie Baxter, and his agent, Brad Ames, for failure to pay salary and agent fees.