My friends who follow American football tell me Terrell Owens pretty much had only one option for a soft landing after his exile from the Dallas Cowboys, after everyone initially thought he had no options.

As a former not-too-far-from-Buffalo resident who still loves the place -- even though I haven't been anywhere near western New York since the age of 8 -- I don't really get why the Bills are seen as such a step down.

Yet this is relevant to the Weekend Dime not because of my (annoying) allegiance to the (old) home of the Braves. It's relevant because Allen Iverson, after suddenly leaving the Detroit Pistons by mutual consent Friday night, isn't just "The Answer" any more.

He seems to be the NBA's answer to T.O., as my pal Wally Lynn of ESPN Radio in Dallas keeps claiming.

Iverson might actually be even worse off than Owens. You can certainly make that case after the Pistons, who are having enough trouble nailing down a playoff spot in this increasingly painful season of transition, decided that they didn't need the added burden of dealing with Iverson's daily discontent, deeming it better to grant Iverson's wish to heal his back and bruised psyche -- "It's a bad time for me mentally," Iverson said earlier this week -- away from the team and the spotlight.

Maybe there was only one team in the NFL willing to give T.O. his (supposed) last chance, but at least the radioactive wide receiver found that team in a matter of days. Iverson really isn't as flammable as Owens and won't be subjected to teams sending out news releases to announce that they have no interest in signing him, as T.O. was,, but he'll have to wait almost three months until free agency begins July 1. And only then will he really know whether he can still generate some interest at age 34, after an injury-plagued, tension-filled 54 games in Detroit during which the four-time scoring champ averaged a measly 17.4 points, which marks the first time in Iverson's 13 seasons that he failed to average in the 20s.

So …

Who's next on the A.I. roller coaster?

As all the football mavens loudly wondered when T.O. first was let go, will anyone want Iverson next season?

The early indications aren't encouraging. We reached out to 10 teams Friday night after Pistons president Joe Dumars announced that Iverson would be shelved for the rest of the season, heard back from seven of them and didn't turn up even a hint of concrete interest. The following list of five possible landing spots, we must warn you, contains far more pessimism than optimism after Iverson's time in Detroit playing for a boss who had coveted him for years proved to be so short and bitter.

MEMPHIS
The Grizzlies believe there suddenly are some up-for-grabs hoops fans in town in the wake of John Calipari's departure from the University of Memphis to Kentucky. Optimistic as that sounds, given the Tigers' local stature no matter who is coaching them, more than one rival executive we spoke with promptly nominated the Grizz as the team most likely to pursue to Iverson, since they clearly could do with a proven ticket seller to market to those alleged free agents.

I'm not at all sold, though.

The Answer, with apologies to O.J. Mayo, would become the biggest basketball personality in town with Calipari gone. It's also true that Memphis is projected to have more cap room this offseason, an estimated $20 million, than any other team in the league. So you figure the Grizzlies, given their well-chronicled issues filling seats in the Tigers' shadow, would have to at least weigh the possibility of gambling on A.I.

However …

No team in the league is more averse to spending money than the Grizzlies, who have agonized all season about whether they could afford to keep Quinton Ross and his modest $926,678 salary on the roster for all 82 games. So it's a major stretch to envision Grizz owner Michael Heisley sanctioning even a one-year deal at a hypothetical $7 million or $8 million, in spite of the countless empty FedEx Forum chairs I saw on my TV as I pounded out this story with Dallas-at-Memphis on in the background.

An Iverson signing in Graceland seems even less likely if you dare to consider any of the on-court implications. Divvying up the shots between Mayo and Rudy Gay already is a huge issue for the Grizz. Does anyone see Iverson as the facilitator/mentor to get those two clicking?

"Most basketball guys wouldn't touch him," one Western Conference executive said, "but he does sell tickets."

You also could question whether that still holds true. My best friend in Memphis said he doubts A.I. would make much of a difference for the Grizz gate-wise. I acknowledge that doesn't exactly qualify as scientific evidence, but I trust this friend's read on things.

LOS ANGELES
Not the Lakers, silly.

Iverson to the Clippers.

L.A.'s long-suffering other team was the most popular suggestion as a potential A.I. destination from the small handful of execs we surveyed. I'm also certain Clippers owner Donald Sterling would love to see the Iverson circus relocate to Staples Center, no matter how clear it is to everyone else in the league that we're talking about a fading star.

Of course, as we were reminded by one Clippers expert: "If box-office appeal was the only consideration, there would be a long line for the guy. A lot of teams fall into the category of needing to sell tickets."

Translation: You'd like to think that even Sterling would realize his dysfunctional team -- which will be bringing the Mike Dunleavy-Baron Davis disconnect into training camp in October if the Clips don't find a way to trade Baron, because plugged-in sources insist that Dunleavy's job continues to be safe with two years and more than $10 million left on his contract -- has no room in the backcourt for Iverson. Not with four years and nearly $54 million left on Davis' contract and not with rookie stud Eric Gordon at the other guard spot.

Just to be safe, though, I want to reissue this quote about the Clips from a Western Conference scout in March: "They have enough talent to be relevant. But it looks to me like they're trying to become the Oakland Raiders, going out and getting all the guys who are on their last chance."

EUROPE
The rational among us never believed that the exodus of a dozen or so NBA role players to Europe last summer meant we should start buying the hysterical stories about Kobe Bryant and LeBron James getting one-year overseas offers of $30 million or more.

Apart from the free-spending Angelopoulos brothers from Greek League power Olympiacos -- known better stateside as the team that signed Josh Childress away from the Atlanta Hawks last summer -- pretty much no one has money to spend over there. Basketball simply isn't a revenue-generating sport in most foreign countries, where tiny, rundown arenas and a skeletal infrastructure are the norms.

It always was more likely, even before the global economic downturn hit European basketball harder than it hit the NBA, that the next big name to move abroad would be a former All-Star at the end of his career, just like we saw in the '80s (Bob McAdoo) and '90s (Dominique Wilkins).

Someone like Stephon Marbury.

Or someone like Iverson … assuming he's even interested in playing something other than NBA basketball.

One Eastern Conference general manager immediately tossed out the European option for A.I., since there would be no shortage of shots, minutes and adulation if he went to, say, Italy, Spain or Greece.

That GM, though, quickly caught himself, remembering how scarce money will be this summer for players seeking international work.

"It would have to be a Greek team," he said.

BOSTON
I need to stress that this is purely an educated guess from one of my guys who knows his stuff. But I was sufficiently convinced to share the speculation.

If the Celtics fail to repeat as champs, and if A.I. were willing to take a short-term deal to chase the ring that has eluded him, Iverson to Boston is not nearly as outlandish as it sounds.

Iverson almost certainly would have to accept the bench role he repeatedly has said he'll never accept again, which is a sizable impediment. But that probably would be the biggest impediment here.

Why are you so sure the Celts would have no interest in a short-term arrangement? Weren't you just as sure Boston would never sign Marbury?

We dipped into the archives to find this paragraph from an old Weekend Dime in December 2006, shortly after Iverson's request to be traded from Philadelphia was made public and when the Celts had no idea Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen would be arriving months later: "Boston's Paul Pierce, sources say, still wants Iverson as a teammate and remains hopeful that his team has a shot. Danny Ainge, meanwhile, is said to be a longtime Iverson fan, with AI apparently possessing the Michael Jordan brain type and with the Celts' personnel boss known to be a big believer in brain-typing."

The other provocative suggestion in circulation comes from TNT's David Aldridge, who in an NBA.com piece posted Thursday made the claim that the best place for Iverson to try to resurrect his career is Charlotte, with the offensively challenged Bobcats. And with a certain coach from Iverson's past named Larry Brown.

RETIREMENT
The latest Iverson drama accelerated to this newest fork in his career Wednesday night in New Jersey, when A.I. announced after his third game as Detroit's sixth man that he'd rather retire than come off the bench next season.

You'll notice that pretty much no one is treating it as an April Fool's joke.

That's because it's not hard to imagine the famously proud/stubborn Iverson following Latrell Sprewell into early retirement rather than play for less of a role and less of a contract than he thinks his stature deserves. Not hard at all.

He's hit new lows in selfishness with his candor this time -- which can only exacerbate the me-first reputation that often overshadows the four scoring titles and 2001 MVP trophy he's racked up as one of the most dynamic and durable little men this game has ever seen -- but I don't doubt Iverson's sincerity one bit when we hear him say: "I'm happy with my career and the things I've done in my career. I feel blessed that I've had the opportunity to accomplish the things that I've accomplished, to do the things that I've done. I would feel fine if I had to [retire]."

How likely is it that he'll end up feeling that way?

Let's be honest. Iverson was looking at a massive pay cut in the $15 million range next season in the very-best-case scenario, which was dependent on him gritting his teeth through one season in Detroit as a role player after the Pistons acquired him mostly for the future flexibility that comes with his $20.8 million expiring contract but also the desire to further Rodney Stuckey's development out of Chauncey Billups' shadow.

That best-case scenario was before Iverson missed 16 games with a mysterious back injury, grudgingly logged limited minutes in three games and then negotiated a mutual leave from the Pistons for the rest of the regular season on the eve of what undoubtedly would have been a humbling return to Philadelphia on Saturday as a bit-part reserve.

Now?

"I don't think A.I. has much of a market … if any," one Western Conference executive said. "Maybe some team that wants to get a ticket-sale bump. But a serious club, no way. His act is tired, and even in his best years, I don't think he was great enough to put up with all the B.S. he put teams through."

Said another decision-maker in the West: "If he only wants to start, his career may be over."

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.

Dimes past: March 20 | 21-22 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28-29 | 30 | 31 | April 1 | 2 | 3

Finally had a chance to catch up with Chris Paul this week -- probably only because he was standing still near the Hornets' bench after running through his pregame routine Tuesday in Sacramento -- and ask him two things I've been wanting to ask him for a while.

Question No. 1: Is he ticked that he's arguably playing better this season, with far less assistance from other Hornets, than he did last season as the MVP runner-up toKobe Bryant ... and might not make this season's top five in MVP voting?

And No. 2: Does he still see his long-term future with the Hornets after they attempted to trade away Tyson Chandler before the February trading deadline?

The responses:

No. 1: "I definitely think I'm having a better year this year than last year, but that's me personally. Obviously our team doesn't have as good a record as we did last year. We're not as healthy as we were last year. I don't think it's anything you take away from me or any of the other [MVP outsiders] like Dwight [Howard]. I think you just have to credit the guys [who are] playing outstanding, like LeBron and D-Wade and Kobe. … My main focus right now is just to get our team to the championship. The MVP race is all fun and well, but now I just want a championship."

And No. 2: "Most definitely. Because I feel like Tyson's long-term future is with the Hornets and so is [David West's]. … I've been over that [near-trade] for a long time. It's funny because Tyson was actually gone for a day maybe. So it's not even a trade that really took place."

Paul, remember, is earning just $4.6 million this season in the final year of his rookie contract, before the max extension he signed last summer kicks in next season.

"I don't think about the future too much," he said. "I just deal with what's going on right now. I never think about what's going to happen during the summer or nothing like that, because we can't control that. I guarantee that if we win a championship this year, we won't have to worry about what's going to happen this summer. Everybody's going to be back."

Want some bonus Chris Paul?

How 'bout his MVP ballot?

"I talk to D-Wade all the time," Paul said. "I talk to Bron about every day. D-Wade knows he's been unbelievable, but Bron has been unbelievable, too. You look at the Cavs' record right now. They have 60 wins already. It's ridiculous.

"So right now I'd have to give the edge to LeBron. And I think it has to do with how well the Cavs have played. D-Wade doesn't have the supporting cast LeBron has, but they're like 36-1 at home. That's just unheard of."

Are folks inherently pessimistic in Phoenix?

Can you blame them after the various ways the Suns have arrived at the most painful possible endings over the past few years?

No wonder one self-deprecating club insider hit me with this line of questioning recently, based upon the growing realization that the West's final playoff berth is almost out of reach: "How many teams are in the lottery? Fourteen? We'll end up with the 15th pick."