First the great news: Allen Iverson won. A judge dismissed this lawsuit because of a lack of evidence, giving Iverson the victory he desperately wanted. But still this isn’t exactly the type of news headlines Allen Iverson was looking for. Just a few days after word leaked from Iverson’s camp that the former All-Star would ‘relish’ the opportunity to play in Boston – Iverson has actually stated a few times recently that he would love to play anymore in the league – The Detroit News obtained a deposition transcript from August that featured an argument between Iverson and Washington, D.C., lawyer Gregory Lattimer where Iverson was holding nothing back. This all stems from a Detroit bar fight Iverson was accused of being involved in during his playing days there that led to him getting sued in federal court by Lattimer for $2.5 million.
Some of the highlights from The Detroit News:
“I die before I let you get me this time,” Iverson tells the lawyer. “I’m as clean as the Board of Health man.”
Iverson denied playing any role in a 2009 bar fight at the South Beach Pizza Bar nightclub inside the Fisher Building. He said he hired bodyguards, including a pre-Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee, to stay out of trouble.
“I get sued for stuff I don’t got nothing to do with. I ain’t involved with. Ain’t nobody never said … I touched them,” Iverson, 36, said. “I don’t do nothing to nobody, buddy.”
Lattimer had a quick reply.
“The head honcho ain’t supposed to,” he said.
Iverson: “Yeah, I ain’t no damn mob boss. I don’t live my life like that. I got five kids. I don’t put that on their head. That’s a fairytale that y’all living in …”
The main reason why Iverson was so frustrated over this was because this lawyer has apparently sued him three times, including once four years ago over a man who alleges Iverson’s entourage beat him up. That seems a little weird doesn’t it? Iverson thinks so.
“I know you lurking. I know you lurking, man. I know you lurking,” Iverson said. “How the hell you live with (it)? You’ve been involved with three suits against me. You know what to do. You got a plan.”
Lattimer: “I just go to work every day.”
Iverson: “I know, and I’m the one that pay you, and you know it. But not this time jack. … I die before I let you get me this time.”
…
Lattimer asked Iverson about his off-court problems and checkered reputation and invoked the name of Iverson’s coach at Georgetown University, John Thompson.
“John Thompson told me a long time ago that you’re one of the smartest kids that he (knows),” Lattimer said. “So I don’t think you’re dumb.”
Iverson: “I’m a smart dude that made mistakes.”
Lattimer asked Iverson, who traveled to Detroit from his home in Atlanta for the deposition, if he was staying in Detroit indefinitely.
“No, I’m gonna get back to my kids. But I don’t know. I might stay here and have some fun if I can. You want to go out?”
Lattimer: “That would be epic.”
Lattimer later said he’s a homebody.
“See, I told you I knew you ain’t got no friends,” Iverson teased. “The only way you gonna have friends is they read to you, read you bedtime stories or something like that.”
After nearly two hours, Lattimer said he appreciated Iverson sitting for the deposition.
“Go to hell,” Iverson said.
We all know Iverson wants to get back to the league, and hopefully he does. Even if he never gets back, he can at least be happy that he won this matchup by getting the judge to throw out the suit. Iverson beat the lawyer at his own game just as he promised he would.
Will Iverson get back to the NBA?
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