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Alex English spotted the young boy wearing the Denver Nuggets No. 3 jersey and couldn't resist.
"Hey, that should be No. 2," English joked to the boy, who is obviously more familiar with Allen Iverson than the legendary English.
English, of course, wore No. 2 for the Nuggets while becoming the franchise's all-time leading scorer in the 1980s.
The eight-time NBA all-star is now an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors, and yesterday he was in Winnipeg yesterday with the NBA Cares program, which raises money for the Children's Miracle Network and children's hospitals across Canada.
"We want to raise a lot of money for the Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba and just to greet and meet the people of Manitoba and Winnipeg, all the Raptor fans out here," English said yesterday at the Wal-Mart located on the corner of McGillivray and Kenaston.
"We've got the whole country. Everywhere I go, there's going to be Raptor fans."
English signed autographs, got his picture taken with fans and even participated in a free throw shooting contest with Ty Venderbos, a young Raptor fan from Winnipeg.
"Alex is a really good shooter," said Venderbos, sporting a Raptors T-shirt with Chris Bosh's name on the back. "He didn't miss that many."
The 53-year-old English didn't miss that many during his 15 seasons in the NBA, either, as he is the 11th leading scorer in league history with 25,613 points.
'WE'RE EXCITED'
Now he's doing his best to coach the young players of Canada's only NBA franchise, which last season won its first division title and has high hopes for the upcoming season.
"We're excited about our team," English said. "We've got a lot of new additions, and we feel that they're going to be very, very supportive.
"We're going to have a strong team. We've got a deep bench now."
Unfortunately for the NBA, the big off-season focus has been on former referee Tim Donaghy, who admitted to taking cash payoffs from gamblers for betting tips on NBA games. Prosecutors said he also bet on games he officiated.
English doesn't believe one man's actions will have a negative long-term effect on the 61-year-old league.
"We have a great league here, and one bad apple won't spoil the whole bunch," English said. "We feel we've got one of the best professional products out there, and it's going to continue to be one of the best.
"Commissioner David Stern has done a great job managing the league and making sure we keep it as sharp and as ethical as possible."