Former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas asked Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James to drug test guard Austin Reaves for his ranking of the top shooting guards of all time.
Reaves’ list includes Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, James Harden and Brandon Roy, but he left off Hall of Famer Allen Iverson.
Arenas seemed to take issue with the Iverson snub in an Instagram post.
Iverson, who played both point guard and shooting guard in his NBA career, is an 11-time All-Star, four-time scoring champ and won the league’s MVP award in the 2000-01 season.
During his NBA career, Iverson averaged 26.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game while shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc. He was a warrior on the floor, leading the league in minutes per game seven different times in his NBA career.
Reaves commented that he left Iverson off of his list because he considers him more of a point guard, but Arenas wasn’t having it. He joked that Reaves would be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers if he makes a mistake like this again.
Roy’s career was cut short by injuries, but he was a star when he was healthy, making the All-Star team in three of his first four NBA seasons. Roy averaged 18.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game while shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from 3-point range.
While those numbers aren’t in the same category as Iverson’s, it’s worth noting that Roy’s production took a significant hit in his final two seasons due to injuries. He averaged over 20 points per game in both his third and fourth season in the NBA.
Reaves is certainly entitled to his opinion, whether Arenas agrees with him or not.
The Lakers shooting guard is hoping to one day find himself among the list of the best 2-guards in NBA history. Last season, he averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from beyond the arc.
After signing Reaves to a four-year deal in free agency this offseason, the Lakers are hoping for even more from the young guard in the future.
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