One of the coolest parts of this year’s All-Star weekend in Cleveland was seeing the stars of past and present come together as the league honored its 75 Greatest Players for the league’s diamond anniversary.
There were some incredibly cool moments captured on video between the current stars of the league and their heroes, like Michael Jordan sharing an embrace with LeBron James (and later Luka Doncic). On Tuesday, we saw another such moment that showed just how much that 75th anniversary team meant to those current players who landed on it, as Giannis Antetokounmpo was like a giddy little kid when he saw Allen Iverson before the team photo shoot, running up to The Answer to tell him that he was the reason he started playing basketball.
“I started playing basketball because of YOU!!”@Giannis_An34 meets @alleniverson at @NBAAllStar Weekend!! pic.twitter.com/s9FKmYyF1u
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) March 1, 2022
It’s always cool to see how some of the most famous people on the planet shed all of that in these moments and can’t help but be in awe of the stars of the past that inspired them to play basketball. It’s an incredible moment and shows the influence that Iverson had on this generation of players, even a big man like Giannis. Iverson, in particular, has long been one of the NBA’s legends that has been quick to give flowers to this generation — most recently evidenced by him putting a Ja Morant jersey on his MVP award after Morant’s 52-point game on Monday night — and it’s great to see Giannis showing him respect and love in return.