Report: Iverson to stay in Denver

Allen Iverson has reportedly decided to return to Denver for at least one more season.

The nine-time All-Star guard will not opt out of the final year of his contract, and will play for the Nuggets during the 2008-09 season, the Denver Post reported Saturday. Iverson is slated to make a little less than $21 million next season, the final year of his contract.

Iverson, who turns 33 next month, scored 26.4 points and tallied 7.1 assists per game last season while leading the league in minutes, logging 41.8 per game. The Nuggets finished with a 50-32 record, the eighth seed in the hotly contested Western Conference, and were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Lakers.

The diminutive star was traded from Philadelphia, where he spent the first 10 full seasons of his career, to Denver during the 2006-07 season. The Nuggets were eliminated in five games in the first round of the playoffs by the Spurs that season.

Iverson has career averages of 27.7 points, 6.3 assists, and 2.3 steals per game through 12 seasons with the Sixers and Nuggets.