Allen Iverson

Allen Iverson has had one of the greatest impacts on the NBA today. “The other thing that Iverson brought to the court was his own sense of style, and the hip-hop culture on the streets came into basketball arenas. Iverson wore chains and was covered in tattoos, something pretty common on the court in the modern game” (Alexander). Before Iverson, the big men scored the ball and the point guards would give the big man the ball. “There was a time where a scoring point guard was frowned upon. A clear example of this was Allen Iverson, who in his first two seasons averaged 22 points” (Kumar). Iverson brought the street to the NBA, his style of play was similar to how people played at the park. His crossover was his signature move, he even crossed Michael Jordan that is when Iverson popularity began to rise. He brought the hip-hop culture to the NBA.
The NBA created a dress code because of the way Allen Iverson dressed when walking into the arena. Iverson wore the baggy clothing that the rappers wore. In the NBA guys like Russell Westbrook and James Harden have the freedom to wear whatever clothes they want. Players could only wear certain clothing, but Iverson began to fight against it. Due to Iverson’s persistence, the rules on the dress code are more lenient. Iverson also wore arms sleeves and headbands on the court, and that also started a trend. Now in the NBA you can see many players wearing headbands and arm sleeves.