POV: you just finished up ‘The Last Dance’ docuseries, and you’re scouring the internet reading up on all things Michael Jordan. You see a lot of comparisons between Jordan and LeBron James. Both players are often referred to as the “GOAT,” they’ve won titles, broken records, etc. But then you find out; the two players have even more in common than you might have thought. Jordan and James both almost gave it all up for an entirely new sport. True story.
Okay, so, LeBron may not have actually switched careers like MJ, but he did consider it. According to CBS Sports, the Lakers player entertained the idea of joining the NFL during the NBA lockout in 2011. “I had no idea how long the lockout was going to be, and myself and my trainer … we really started to actually train to be a football player,” James said on the most recent episode of Uninterrupted. “We started to clock our time in the 40, we started to add a little bit more to our bench presses and things of that nature.”
LeBron, a well-known Dallas Cowboys fan, was offered a contract by the team’s owner Jerry Jones, Maverick Carter, James’ longtime friend and business partner, explained. Clippers head coach, Doc Rivers, even said that James would have been the “greatest football player ever.” That may be true if he hadn’t dominated the NBA first.
James, of course, did not take Jones’ offer; and went on to win three NBA championships, four NBA MVP Awards, three Finals MVP Awards, and two Olympic gold medals. Oh, and he also became the league’s third all-time leading scorer—no big deal. I guess now we’ll never know what could have come of that NFL career.
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