Throwback Thursday: LeBron James Pays Homage to Allen Iverson's 'Practice' Rant

On this day 18 years ago, Philadelphia 76ers legend Allen Iverson offered an unforgettable press conference just days after being eliminated from the playoffs. While Iverson's presser lasted longer than 30 minutes, and a lot of it has been forgotten, his short rant on the topic of practice has stuck with sports fans for nearly two decades.

Re-visiting the rant isn't limited to just fans, either. There have been many occasions where players have discussed the famous press conference. Notably, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James once quoted Iverson during an NBA Finals press conference back in 2014.

At the time, James was a member of the Miami Heat. And as the future NBA Hall of Famer was preparing for Game 2 of the 2014 NBA Finals, he was obligated to partake in a press conference before -- you guessed it -- practice. 

Typically, LeBron keeps press conferences business as usual. But on June 7th (Iverson's birthday), the former Heat star decided to pay homage to the legend. So when James' former teammate, Dwyane Wade, fired off a question from the back of the room asking if LeBron was ready to practice, he responded accordingly.

"Practice?" LeBron responded while holding back from laughing. "Not the game, you talking about practice?! Alright, I gotta get to practice." LeBron and the Heat's practice session paid off after that day as they tied the series against San Antonio 1-1. Unfortunately for them, practice didn't pay off for the next three games that year, though. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_