A little more than a year ago, when Allen Iverson received the National Basketball Assn.’s Most Valuable Player award, he responded with a sort of public confession. He said a part of his problem was his immaturity. He said that when he arrived on the sports scene, “I was 20 years old and people wanted me to be 30. I had no room for error. But I never stopped and worked on all the things people said I couldn’t do, and now I’m the MVP of the league. It’s something I always wanted. … I’m still the same person, but I’m older, I’m wiser, and I’m more mature.”

Iverson’s remarks brought a certain relief to those who attended the ceremony. Maybe, he’s finally grown up, people told themselves as Iverson was being applauded.

But his expression of repentance didn’t last very long. Iverson went back to missing practice sessions with the Philadelphia 76ers, arguing with coach Larry Brown (who insists on referring to Iverson as a “kid” even though the latter is now 27). Iverson is the married father of two and, like it or not, a role model for thousands of youngsters who regard him as a sports hero in one of the world’s great sports cities.

Last week brought new controversy. What witnesses say began as a spat with Tawanna Iverson, his wife, ended in a barrage of accusations that could ultimately dethrone him as one of the great players in the NBA.

Iverson has been accused of threatening two men while armed with a handgun. No charges have been substantiated, but when the police added them up, the allegations numbered 14, including two felony counts.

Iverson is hardly the first to abuse the privilege of earning millions by participating in major sports. Yet athletes are seldom held accountable for their abuses. The time has long since passed for sports contracts to contain serious and enforceable behavioral clauses that will force players to conduct themselves properly both on and off the playing field or be banned from public sports arenas for life.

The list of players who have given us everything from drug abuse and domestic violence to murder grows longer every year. Mike Tyson comes easily to mind. Yet he continues to earn millions. What is the meaning of a boxing license if anyone, regardless of behavior, can get one? What is the value of a contract if repeated abuses damaging to both player and sport can’t forfeit it?

The latest allegations against Iverson may not appear as serious as the transgressions of other professional athletes. But the NBA should not sit in silence until a player’s lack of control reaches that ugly plateau. The depraved indifference of the NBA, the NFL, the NHL and professional boxing’s state commissions has led to situations like the one Iverson now faces.

Professional sport is a business. True. But being a pro player is a privilege, a publicly responsible one. So where is the mechanism that could rid the leagues of consistently wayward athletes? What is the message to thousands of youngsters who look on Iverson as a hero?

If Iverson is convicted, he could forfeit the limelight and land in a prison cell. A serious conviction could separate him from family and friends. It could hurt his teammates, his coach and his career.

Those who run professional leagues should impose realistic consequences to control every athletes’ dark impulses. Instead, the leagues, in an effort to protect their money-makers, generally coddle players.

If Iverson is found guilty, so is the NBA. As long as it imposes no consequences for serious breaches of behavior, it is as much at fault as the transgressors themselves.