Iverson Wasn't A Popular "Answer"
CNBC Sports Business Reporter
Allen Iverson, the man nicknamed "The Answer," has always had one of the league’s most popular jerseys, but a late signing and a smaller market might have saved retailers and jersey maker Adidas from having to deal with a huge jersey glut.
Iverson signed with the Memphis Grizzlies about 50 days before the NBA season, but the team mutually agreed to terminate his one-year contract on Monday after the guard played just three games.
An executive with a major national retailer told CNBC.com that the chain didn’t have enough new Iverson inventory for it to be a worry.
Iverson’s Grizzlies jersey was not in the top 15 selling jerseys on NBA.com or at the NBA Store in Manhattan. That’s a departure from his previous position on the list. Since 2003, Iverson’s jersey -- with the 76ers or the Nuggets -- had never ended the season lower than the sixth most popular.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that the Grizzlies official store only had 90 remaining Iverson jerseys, the price of which was slashed by 50 percent following his exit from the team. The team’s only issue, according to the paper, is that it was expecting a shipment of 3,000 Iverson jerseys for a giveaway for an upcoming game.
I guess that brings new life to the word “giveaway.”
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