Allen Iverson

The Sixers called John Gabriel, the Orlando Magic's general manager, several weeks ago to inquire about the availability of Penny Hardaway and what it would take to land him. To get one superstar, the Sixers would have to trade a potential one with box-office appeal, namely Allen Iverson. "Yes, I did call Orlando," Billy King, the Sixers' vice president of basketball administration, said last night. "But that's all it was - a phone call. We've been hearing a lot of things about their situation with Penny, and since Penny's an all-star, we naturally inquired about him. " Did the discussions involve Iverson?

A day before descending upon South Florida with 20 locked-out NBA players, Billy Hunter, the executive director of the players' association, was looking forward to talking privately with 76ers guard Allen Iverson. Both were supposed to be on a 3 o'clock flight to Miami on Saturday afternoon. "Only one of us showed up, though," Hunter said. "Allen called to say he wouldn't be able to make it until later. " Actually, Iverson didn't make it at all. Scheduled to join a star-studded cast of NBA players for Alonzo Mourning's second annual Summer Groove Basketball Classic yesterday, Iverson was a no-show.

If Matt Geiger had his druthers, he would have the Orlando Magic do tomorrow night what they did yesterday. The Sixers center would have them focus on Allen Iverson, double-teaming the 76ers star all game long. "Just leave me alone," Geiger joked after the Sixers' 104-90 victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals at the Orlando Arena. "I'll be just fine. " Because of Geiger's play, the Sixers are more than fine. Geiger scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and finished off the Magic by netting 12 points in the fourth quarter to help the Sixers take a one-game-to-none lead in this best-of-five series.

For the first time in his professional career, former 76ers wunderkind Allen Iverson faces an uncertain future as NBA free agency goes into full swing today. The high-scoring Iverson, 34 and a 13-year veteran, has no apparent home. He worked for the Denver Nuggets and the Detroit Pistons in the last year of a contract that paid him about $21 million. A back injury ended Iverson's season April 3. Detroit effectively ended its association with Iverson by sending him home as the Pistons embarked on the playoffs.

Pay close attention to last night's 76ers win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. It will help explain yesterday's trade with Golden State 48 hours before the NBA's trading deadline. After the Sixers' 13-point third-quarter lead had all but disappeared, a missed free throw by rookie Brevin Knight with 2.6 seconds left in regulation saved Allen Iverson from being humiliated and salvaged a 98-97 win over the Cavaliers in front of 13,187 fans at the CoreStates Center. The victory by the Sixers (16-33)

ALLEN IVERSON is considering playing this season in China, according to a Hoops Hype translation of a Chinese article. "I definitely want to return to the NBA, but if I can't get back there, I'm hoping to play ball here [in China]," Iverson is quoted as saying. "China is still one of my choices, but the team that wants me to join has got to show me that they really mean it, like 'Hey, we really need you.' " Iverson, 37, last played in the NBA in 2009-10, in his second stint with the Sixers.

A gap opened, and in darted Allen Iverson. It's a familiar play, just one that Iverson usually executes on a basketball court. Iverson wanted to return to Philadelphia, the city in which he played the most productive of his 13-plus NBA seasons. The 5-14 76ers, losers of eight straight games after last night's defeat in Oklahoma City and without starting point guard Lou Williams for eight weeks, needed a point guard. There was an opening that maybe, just maybe, Iverson could fill.

Before becoming vice president of marketing for the 76ers in October, Stephen Yaros used to market the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and he was responsible for bringing the "Greatest Show On Earth" to the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Surprisingly, that may not be the item on his resume that has best prepared him for the human-cannonball job of getting fans to keep coming to Sixers games. The team is in last place. Attendance, which has been falling for years, is apt to sag even more now that the team's best player and fan favorite, Allen Iverson, has been dealt to Denver.

The 76ers' season took a huge turn for the worse with slightly more than seven minutes remaining in the second period of Monday night's 94-91 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. By yesterday, the 5-7 Sixers were reeling, rocked by the news that Allen Iverson has an avulsion fracture of his right thumb and will miss three to six weeks. When Iverson arrived at the team's practice site at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine as practice was winding down, his thumb was already encased in a hard cast.

The 76ers are losing the war, but they're keeping the awards. The big NBA championship trophy that might be passed around tonight looks like a long shot for them, but the Sixers will still end the season with more hardware than Bob Vila. Aaron McKie, so sore he gave out a little "ooh" descending two small steps yesterday, is the league's top sixth man. Larry Brown, running out lineups that might have fallen from one of those toy cars at the circus, will forever be the 2000-2001 coach of the year.