NFL
LeBron James tells Travis Kelce what NFL players he compares himself to on the New Heights podcast
The NBA icon admitted that he has previously thought about a switch to football and revealed which NFL stars he wanted to emulate.
It’s well-known that LeBron James was a promising football player during high school, once being ranked as the top prospect in the state of Ohio. He garnered recruiting interest from major schools but opted instead to stick with basketball and embarked on a career in the NBA.
Nevertheless, he retains a love of football and is an avid watcher of the NFL. He appeared on the ‘New Heights’ podcast hosted by Jason and Travis Kelce this week, reflecting on the first week of the NFL playoffs. In their conversation James talked about his dreams of playing in the NFL and was asked which player he thinks he would be most similar to if he had opted for football.
James replied: “Probably like a mix between [Rob] Gronkowski and Randy Moss, but he’s a little smaller than me. He runs a lot faster but he’s a lot smaller than me. Megatron [Calvin Johnson], we kinda have that same structure as far as the build.”
“Maybe Tony Gonzalez, he has the size and obviously he played basketball as well. I used to love his celebration when he used to dunk on the goal posts.”
Travis Kelce recently overtook Gonzalez on the Chiefs’ all-time touchdown receptions list and decided to pay tribute to the Chiefs franchise legend. Kelce copied the ‘slam dunk’ celebration popularised by Gonzalez but was hit with a $14,000 fine from the league for unsportsmanlike conduct.
LeBron reveals that he considered NFL switch
For all the talk of LeBron James’ potential as an football player there has never seemed to be any serious prospect of a stunning switch across sports. However he revealed that he did once consider a move to the NFL.
“The only time that I’ve taken it like super-duper seriously was in 2011, when we had the NBA lock-out. I didn’t know when we were going to make the deal with the owners and get the league back going,” he explained.
“So I actually thought about it for a bit back then. I was young enough to get out there with y’all, but that was the only time that I’ve actually seriously considered it. But I’ve had serious dreams about this shit, all the time.”
Now 40 years old, LeBron James is in the twilight of his stellar career. The four-time NBA champion has given up any faint hopes of a change of career but would love to add one more ring with the LA Lakers before finally calling it a day.
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