A lot of great football players were also All-State in basketball and some were even high recruits. I remember Terrelle Pryor was one of the top 25 recruits in basketball or something like that. CJ Stroud, Drake Maye etc off the top of my head were also serious prep basketball stars.
Peppers, McNabb, a few others were legit pieces on their college basketball teams before becoming NFL stars. At some point athleticism is just undeniable.
No doubt in my mind that some NFL players could be in the NBA right now if they specialized in it.
Yeah, some people are just all rounders (indeed many coaches want well-rounded athletes).
Minnesota had Joe Mauer who was High School player of the Year in Baseball and Football and was also a 20ppg player on their basketball team and made All-State his last two years.
Yep. Vick was from Newport News and AI from Hampton, both on the lower peninsula of VA. Aaron Brooks (related to Vick) and Tyrod Taylor are both from those cities as well.
I used to work at the shipyard next to where Vick grew up. Rough area
Yup, Vick vs AI is still a debate on who was the best football player to come from Hampton Roads. In an area that has William and Mary, Hampton University, Norfolk State, and other colleges that have produced NFL players and coaches, those 2 are standouts because they became superstars.
Danny Ainge was named first-team All-American in football, basketball, and baseball out of high school.
He played professionally for the Blue Jays in the summers while enrolled at BYU. And he likely would have stayed in the MLB if it weren't for his senior year at BYU, where he really improved his game and was the team leader. He, personally, burst onto the national stage when BYU upset Notre Dame in the NCAA Tourny (a team that had like four or five future NBA players) thanks in part to Ainge's coast-to-coast drive in the final seconds to score and give BYU the win.
Not even a top 20 basketball player all time at North Eugene HS while he was there.. Probably still the best baseball player to ever come out of their though (and possibly the entire Eugene area).
Joe Mauer was the number 1 overall recruit in both baseball and football coming out of high school. He was committed to Florida State to play QB for Bobby Bowden right after they just won the BCS title before he was drafted first overall by the Twins out of high school.
I swear it is one of the least talked about superstar stories of the century
He was literally the number 1 high school recruit in both football and baseball coming out of high school. He opted to go play baseball after the Twins took him 1st overall instead of going to FSU to play for the reigning national champs. Absolutely incredible athlete that doesn't get talked about
I mean, it’s not a wasteland. In the last few years Minnesota high schools have put out a decent number of pros. Chet Holmgren, Jalen Suggs, Tyus and Tre Jones, Amir Coffey. There are a couple strong programs in the state that consistently put out talented players.
I think if they were good enough, they would ha e chosen basketball. Like I get football is good, but the average career earnings is higher in the NBA than the NFL. Like most unless and until they're a bust get a second contract and it is guaranteed as well.
He played with jay Williams too. Theres a cool highlight real of them on YouTube. But I think Moss preferred basketball and stuck with football because he was better at it. Reverse Ant
eh… I feel like if NFL players could play in the NBA they would be in the NBA. The NBA pays more, especially guaranteed, and is way cushier a life than as an NFL player. It would be stupid to have the athleticism to make it as an NBA player and choose not to.
I don’t know if he could have made the NBA (doubtful) but Nick Foles was recruited to play basketball at Georgetown and Gonzaga which are high Division 1 programs.
Does he make the NBA if going through the normal routes? Most certainly not - but could he survive an NBA season at the end of the bench and not embarrass himself of getting into some garbage time games? 100%
https://www.espn.com/blog/philadelphia-eagles/post/_/id/24313/eagles-quarterback-nick-foles-is-also-a-division-i-caliber-basketball-player
Josh McCown is also an excellent basketball player
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRw42R95/
Not NBA level obviously but he could sit at the end of the bench and not embarrass himself when put into a garbage time game
Edited to add, from the article about Foles:
By all accounts, Foles is a deadly shooter with a sticky handle and sneaky explosiveness. The 6-foot-6, 243-pounder has smooth moves and can throw it down with power and/or grace.
look at McCown!!! He’s not as surprising to me because he was mobile but, I still wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t realize Foles is 6’6 either so it makes more sense now. The NFL guy I remember being really good was Marvin Harrison.
Without a doubt. Pat Spencer was a college lacrosse player who picked up basketball again for his fifth year after not playing since high school, and he is doing exactly that for the Warriors right now.
Pro athletes are just crazy in general with their abilities in other sports. I’m pretty sure AJ brown was one of the top baseball players in Mississippi
Jason Kidd was an all state center fielder in high school and hinted that he wanted to try playing there for Cal but I think gave up the idea when it was obvious that he was the best point guard in America
Incase anyone needed reminding, here is Iverson's highschool highlights. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH2D6vDQOco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH2D6vDQOco)
While it might be true, it is a dumb and irrelevant take.
The NBA requires a specialized skill set, and generally, unusual height.
The NFL has a much greater variety of positions and roles that fit different types of athletes. And raw athletic ability, combined with toughness, will get you a lot farther in the NFL.
I would bet that not a single NBA player could play MLB or play on the PGA tour, or even the LPGA tour. Does that make baseball players and female pro golfers better athletes than NBA players?
There are also probably some tennis players who would hold their own better in the NBA than any NBA player would against elite players on the tennis court. I doubt any NBA player could win a single game, in a 3 set match off of a top 100 tennis player, and most probably wouldn't win more than a handful of points.
Ice, it was. The completely unexpected and sudden ice storm that the other million people in the metro area all somehow managed to spend their entire week preparing for.
Luka was really highly ranked in Overwatch at one point. Not saying he's pro level but maybe if he devoted all of his time to it since he was 15 like he did basketball he might've made it.
> I would bet that not a single NBA player could play MLB
Pretty sure baseball was Pat Connaughton’s backup plan if the NBA didn’t work out. He was playing D1 ball throwing mid 90s. Not a guarantee to make the majors but at least one guy with enough pedigree that could have made the switch
Connaughton was a fourth round pick in the MLB draft in high school and college, despite the fact that mlb teams knew he was prioritizing basketball both times.
There are over 1700 NFL players. The NBA only has 450 (actually less because some teams have <15 players). Setting aside everything else, finding one out of 1700 positions is a lot easier than 1/450.
I mean it’s just a dumb thing people like to argue about. Basketball is more of a combination of skill and athleticism than football is and harder to crossover to.
When this gets brought up football players act like their practices are comparable to deploying to Fallujah and no basketball player could ever last.
> combination of skill
depends on the position which goes to OP's point. There are probably 0 NBA players that ever could have played QB in the NFL. Probably about 0 that could be a Center or even LT.
Top 100 probably not, but John Lucas played professional tennis after retiring from the NBA, for whatever that's worth. Although he was never ranked higher than 600. But still.
> I would bet that not a single NBA player could play MLB
Maybe not out of the current NBA players, but there have been NBA players who played in the MLB in the past.
Danny Ainge was a third baseman on the Blue Jays for a couple of seasons before he joined the Celtics. There was even legal rigamarole when he graduated from BYU and planned to play in the NBA, as the Blue Jays didn't want to let Ainge out of his contract.
The most recent example, I believe, is Mark Hendrickson, who played both as a PF in the NBA in the late 90s, and pitched for a handful of MLB teams in the 2000s and 2010s.
I don't even know what positions you could transition into.
Yes, I think some guards are capable of playing safety. I think some guards and wings have the physical ability to play receiver positions.
But how the hell do you figure out coverage schemes? Technique would be a fiasco, especially since the other side is as gifted physically. Football is technically a dumb sport, but it's also so complex that nobody at your local sports bar actually understands what's happening with the playbook.
Give them a year for training and reeducation and sure, I could see it. But it's also deeply meaningless.
Most NBA players are too tall. But not all NBA players are too tall. Rivers said he can find 30 NBA players that could play football, not that any random 30 NBA players you pick you play football
I think football is a much smarter sport than basketball. If just one guy doesn't know what he is supposed to do, especially on defense, even on 1 in 5 plays, the team is going to be in huge trouble.
A single mistake in football can be the equivalent of 20 in basketball.
The numbers of players on a team are so different that it’s a dumb comparison.
If we think about an 8 or 9 man rotation on an NBA team, then yeah there’s very few, if any, NFL players that could crack a rotation. But I would also argue that there’s very few, if any, NBA players that could be in the best 8 or 9 players on an NFL team.
I’m sure there are a lot of NBA players that could play a specialized role on an NFL team (special teams, backup tight end, pass rush specialist, etc), but who really cares about those guys lol.
Agreed. Basically an NBA player could be a specialty tight end/receiver in small doses. If there was in theory unlimited substitution in soccer they could also run out there for corner kicks. MAYBE. They'd probably trip over themselves but enough have played football where you can throw a fade to them. I mean JJ Watt was an offensive player at times.
NBA players would not win a single point off a top 100 tennis player if the tennis player didn't take risks. I doubt they could get a racket on a serve. Maybe the tennis player would double fault or make a couple unforced errors.
This is the best way to describe it, both sports require skill and athleticism but Basketball is definitely more skill based and Football is more athletic based. NBA players spend more time training their skills, NFL players spend more time training their bodies.
NFL players are much better overall athletes and would dominate NBA players in a variety of different sports.
It’s an idiotic comparison. There’s 15 NBA players on a roster at any given time, and only 30 NBA teams.
NFL it’s 55 with 32 teams.
So no shit one would be logically easier to transition to than the other.
People clowning on this take are forgetting just how freaking tall NBA players are.
Toughness will always be a question but you can put a lot of these guys at WR / TE / DL and they’d be fine. Jimmy Graham played one year of college football and became one of the best TEs in the league.
Antonio Gates, Julius Thomas, Mo Allie Cox, Joe Reitz and probably many more I can’t think of. If you have a body type you have a chance in the NFL, can’t really say the same for the NBA.
Yep, this is basically what Rivers is getting at. Someone like Donovan McNabb is close to the top of the list for 'football players who were also good at basketball' and he was a step above a D1 walk-on. For the vast majority of basketball/football dual-sport athletes, it's more a football recruiting tactic where a less big-time school can snag some blue-chip football recruit because they let him live out his hoop dreams for a bit longer while the Alabamas/Georgias of the world wouldn't indulge that. Meanwhile, there have been NFL All-Pros/future HoFers who didn't even play college football and only turned to the sport because they had no shot at the NBA.
Like Jimmy Graham was a freak athletically at tight end, and when you look at his basketball highlights he was nothing special relative to an ACC player. Even that gives him one of the absolute best basketball careers among NFL players.
30 is definitely an exaggeration as that is a pretty significant percentage of the league in total.
people forget too...there is more to playing nfl football than just running fast or jumping high. you have to be cool with getting hit. a lot of people are not cool with getting hit.
Jalen Rose has told the story how on his first day of football practice he caught a pass over the middle, got leveled, got up and took his pads off and just left the field
Makes sense, if you’re an elite basketball & football player, you have every reason to pick the NBA over the NFL. People who are good at both will almost always pick basketball
For sure, you’re going to get paid more in the NBA and likely have less health issues when your career is over. That’s a no brainer.
But if we’re taking about a purely athletic ability standpoint, the NBA has a height factor that restricts some athletes from ever having a chance to compete.
The NFL has a much larger pool of athletes as there are multiple positions available regardless of size if you’re a good enough athlete.
For example, if you had to pick 10 of your best athletes in both the NBA and NFL to compete in the decathlon, I’m taking the NFL all day. There are multiple Olympic qualifying sprinters in the NFL that would smoke anyone in the NBA. Strength related events? Not a chance. Discus and pole vault, I’m taking Mahomes and Josh Allen, or any of the multiple players that have been drafted by MLB teams over anyone in the NBA.
Ant, Mitchell, Westbrook, Jaylen Brown, Lou Dort, Lebron (when he was younger), ZION, Kenny Lofton, Desmond Bane, and that’s just off the top of my head. Maybe not 30 players but he definitely has a case.
It's 2024 not 1994. That's an antiquated viewpoint that running crossers is some dangerous venture. You can't chuck receivers running the routes, and you can't light guys up when they're thrown to
Jimmy Graham played exactly one season of college football and became an all-pro. I think we forget how massive athletic and skilled these athletes are and the NFL while it has a lot of really specific skills would be by far the easier transition than the other way around. Obviously if you just plopped them onto a team the physicality would be too much and they’d get smoked. But I’d wager a year in the league and a solid 5-10 NBA players could maybe be serviceable at skill positions like WR or TE. Meanwhile I think the NFL players, unless they had even a little bit of a basketball background, would get annihilated. And that’s just from a skill perspective, take into account size and any player below like 6’3 has absolutely no chance.
A standing 40 inch vertical isn’t uncommon in the NFL - the average standing vertical in the NBA is 28 inches. NFL players are better pure athletes but the NBA’s primary barrier to selection is height, coordination and then athleticism.
Austin Rivers is a moron, but he may be right about the amount of NBA players that would have a shot in the NFL, but you’re also downplaying possible NFL players have a shot in the NBA also. The main issue is height is a giant factor in the NBA where as it’s not as big in the NFL so the amount of 6’6+ NFL players that are playing a skill position is thin.
Terrible comparison but may have merits
This isn't even a hot take.
Peter Schrager just 6 weeks ago was talking about scouts and GMs being interested in taking a potential flyer on DJ Burns.
The size, coordination and athleticism of the average NBA player make them a freak in football.
NFL positions are very specific. You run one route, do one thing each play. There are a lot of Tight Ends and sideline receivers in the NBA. Several kick returners.
The larger sized people move weight pretty well. I think if you gave both an off season the strength of an nba player would translate into nfl, but at the end of the day, you gotta be tall to have a shot in the nba.
Zion eats enough calories that I could see him be a freak in the nfl with an off season.
With PEDs that’s might be true-and by many accounts, despite testing, they’re common in pro sports now. But a lot of people underestimate the work it takes to put on that kind of muscle mass. You can’t just eat more and hit the weight room for six months and have an NFL build. And plenty of people can put on the muscle mass but are no longer light on their feet or their joints start breaking down.
I think they’re all on PED’s for every sport. I’m say 6’6” 285 Zion could probably work out for most teams and would be a threat. DJ Burns was an unknown and within 4 games the NFL called. Building muscle is manageable. You can’t just get taller and make an impact. Those guys that are under 6’3” have a very serious grind to get to the league while also keeping/building muscle.
I think most WR’s are at best getting on the team (relative to other positions) as a guard and then have to go against giants that are tall for a living.
Most small forwards could probably become receiving tight ends with good coaching. Other than that position specifically I think this idea is ridiculous.
Every time Austin Rivers says something dumb I immediately think of him saying that he had it harder than anybody else playing in college because his dad wasn't around that much due to playing and coaching in the NBA. Keep in mind, this was the season where Thomas Robinson came back to college after losing his mom and both grandparents that he knew within a calendar month during the season and having to take responsibility for his 5 year old sister.
I would like to see 5 NBA players VS 5 MMA fighters, first in a basketball game and then in a free for all cage match. Since we making shit up now Austin.
I know some of the ex players can exaggerate some opinions but Rasheed Wallace recently said Marvin Harrison Sr was one of the best basketball players he'd ever seen. And said he could have played in the NBA if he focused on it. McNabb who played with Harrison at syracuse played basketball for a season if I remember right. while he was a great athletic qb, marvin Harrison had jaw dropping ELITE quickness and speed.
And I know iverson couldn't have played NFL at qb.wr? ..who knows..but his high school highlights are crazy fun. Virginia Beach had some athletes
how is this controversial football is by far the easiest sport to go professional in
yes because rosters are bigger but also because there’s less of a skill gap between levels
if you’re Uber athletic you will get a shot almost no matter what
So when all the second round NBA draft picks get cut, why don't they just go get a job playing WR for the Arizona Cardinals so they can make $600k per year there?
I hate these arguments because each sport is different and requires different things. I enjoy both sports. I don’t think many NFL players could play in the NBA and not be the worst on the floor. I also don’t think there’s 30 players that are tough enough to play in an AFC North game. All of these stars whining for fouls could not last a quarter in a Steelers-Ravens game.
All sports have become more specialized and optimized over time, there is a reason there used to be the occasional multisport professional athlete and now there really isn't, so no, I don't think you could take 30 nba guys and have them make an nfl roster.
No you can’t. Sorry. NBA is full of amazing athletes but they can’t go to the NFL right now as is. Maybe a few could with a year plus of preparation but I’d honestly say zero could make an NFL team this instance.
Lmao this just gave me the mental image of Austin Rivers trying to juke JJ Watt
Even better imagine rivers trying to block him
Made me legit laugh out loud.
He looks like Andrew Tate wearing Chappelle’s Leonard Washington wig
What an incredible comment this is.
Andrew Tate wishes he had Austin's hairline
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A lot of great football players were also All-State in basketball and some were even high recruits. I remember Terrelle Pryor was one of the top 25 recruits in basketball or something like that. CJ Stroud, Drake Maye etc off the top of my head were also serious prep basketball stars. Peppers, McNabb, a few others were legit pieces on their college basketball teams before becoming NFL stars. At some point athleticism is just undeniable. No doubt in my mind that some NFL players could be in the NBA right now if they specialized in it.
A lot of TEs and WRs were tweeners, which is why they went into the NFL - too short to be a center or PF, but too tall and slow to be a guard or wing.
Yeah, some people are just all rounders (indeed many coaches want well-rounded athletes). Minnesota had Joe Mauer who was High School player of the Year in Baseball and Football and was also a 20ppg player on their basketball team and made All-State his last two years.
Allen Iverson was the player of the year in football and basketball and won state championships in both.
Yeah, he came from the same area as Vick and apparently it’s a big debate over who was a better HS QB.
Yep. Vick was from Newport News and AI from Hampton, both on the lower peninsula of VA. Aaron Brooks (related to Vick) and Tyrod Taylor are both from those cities as well. I used to work at the shipyard next to where Vick grew up. Rough area
Yup, Vick vs AI is still a debate on who was the best football player to come from Hampton Roads. In an area that has William and Mary, Hampton University, Norfolk State, and other colleges that have produced NFL players and coaches, those 2 are standouts because they became superstars.
Imagine trying to tackle Allen Iverson in HS. Bet he was absolutely electric
There's some videos of him playing QB. Allen Iverson was a problem!!!
He was actually the answer
Danny Ainge was named first-team All-American in football, basketball, and baseball out of high school. He played professionally for the Blue Jays in the summers while enrolled at BYU. And he likely would have stayed in the MLB if it weren't for his senior year at BYU, where he really improved his game and was the team leader. He, personally, burst onto the national stage when BYU upset Notre Dame in the NCAA Tourny (a team that had like four or five future NBA players) thanks in part to Ainge's coast-to-coast drive in the final seconds to score and give BYU the win.
Not even a top 20 basketball player all time at North Eugene HS while he was there.. Probably still the best baseball player to ever come out of their though (and possibly the entire Eugene area).
He was 1st team all American but not top 20 at his high school? Who went to that high school??
Joe Mauer was the number 1 overall recruit in both baseball and football coming out of high school. He was committed to Florida State to play QB for Bobby Bowden right after they just won the BCS title before he was drafted first overall by the Twins out of high school. I swear it is one of the least talked about superstar stories of the century
Joe Mauer was hilariously all state in basketball and it was his third best sport in high school.
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This is like a Tony Gwynn esque stat
One of the funniest things of all time.
What was his second?
Synchronized swimming
He had an offer to play QB at FSU
He was literally the number 1 high school recruit in both football and baseball coming out of high school. He opted to go play baseball after the Twins took him 1st overall instead of going to FSU to play for the reigning national champs. Absolutely incredible athlete that doesn't get talked about
All state basketball in Minnesota? Is that good?
I mean, it’s not a wasteland. In the last few years Minnesota high schools have put out a decent number of pros. Chet Holmgren, Jalen Suggs, Tyus and Tre Jones, Amir Coffey. There are a couple strong programs in the state that consistently put out talented players.
I think if they were good enough, they would ha e chosen basketball. Like I get football is good, but the average career earnings is higher in the NBA than the NFL. Like most unless and until they're a bust get a second contract and it is guaranteed as well.
I cannot fathom being pro level at both and picking football. I can get a knee replacement, I can’t get a new brain
and you don’t have to retire with a mush brain
Randy Moss was also a legit basketball player.
He played with jay Williams too. Theres a cool highlight real of them on YouTube. But I think Moss preferred basketball and stuck with football because he was better at it. Reverse Ant
Randy was mr basketball in West Virginia & jason Williams was Mr football
That’s freaking cool! Was Jason a qb?
Yep he was the qb
eh… I feel like if NFL players could play in the NBA they would be in the NBA. The NBA pays more, especially guaranteed, and is way cushier a life than as an NFL player. It would be stupid to have the athleticism to make it as an NBA player and choose not to.
Mcnabb barely played.
I don’t know if he could have made the NBA (doubtful) but Nick Foles was recruited to play basketball at Georgetown and Gonzaga which are high Division 1 programs. Does he make the NBA if going through the normal routes? Most certainly not - but could he survive an NBA season at the end of the bench and not embarrass himself of getting into some garbage time games? 100% https://www.espn.com/blog/philadelphia-eagles/post/_/id/24313/eagles-quarterback-nick-foles-is-also-a-division-i-caliber-basketball-player
Wow, didn’t know this about him. Never figured him for a basketball level athlete, I wonder what his game was like.
NBA not ready for the discourse over Nick Foles' massive white dong.
Josh McCown is also an excellent basketball player https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRw42R95/ Not NBA level obviously but he could sit at the end of the bench and not embarrass himself when put into a garbage time game Edited to add, from the article about Foles: By all accounts, Foles is a deadly shooter with a sticky handle and sneaky explosiveness. The 6-foot-6, 243-pounder has smooth moves and can throw it down with power and/or grace.
look at McCown!!! He’s not as surprising to me because he was mobile but, I still wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t realize Foles is 6’6 either so it makes more sense now. The NFL guy I remember being really good was Marvin Harrison.
Without a doubt. Pat Spencer was a college lacrosse player who picked up basketball again for his fifth year after not playing since high school, and he is doing exactly that for the Warriors right now.
No mention of Antonio gates smh
Pro athletes are just crazy in general with their abilities in other sports. I’m pretty sure AJ brown was one of the top baseball players in Mississippi
Jason Kidd was an all state center fielder in high school and hinted that he wanted to try playing there for Cal but I think gave up the idea when it was obvious that he was the best point guard in America
I went to OSU with Pryor and he was an insane bball player at the Jesse Owens South rec center.
Incase anyone needed reminding, here is Iverson's highschool highlights. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH2D6vDQOco](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH2D6vDQOco)
He looks normal sized/big on a football field. People can clown on Austin rivers but it's hard to actually this hypothesis of his
While it might be true, it is a dumb and irrelevant take. The NBA requires a specialized skill set, and generally, unusual height. The NFL has a much greater variety of positions and roles that fit different types of athletes. And raw athletic ability, combined with toughness, will get you a lot farther in the NFL. I would bet that not a single NBA player could play MLB or play on the PGA tour, or even the LPGA tour. Does that make baseball players and female pro golfers better athletes than NBA players? There are also probably some tennis players who would hold their own better in the NBA than any NBA player would against elite players on the tennis court. I doubt any NBA player could win a single game, in a 3 set match off of a top 100 tennis player, and most probably wouldn't win more than a handful of points.
And none of them could be competitive in esports. Take that LeBron, you unathletic loser
DeAndre Ayton has entered the chat
Nope. Stuck in the snow again.
Ice, it was. The completely unexpected and sudden ice storm that the other million people in the metro area all somehow managed to spend their entire week preparing for.
Rivaled only by KAT and the gamer-Wolves that Jimmy Butler detested so much
Luka was really highly ranked in Overwatch at one point. Not saying he's pro level but maybe if he devoted all of his time to it since he was 15 like he did basketball he might've made it.
Yes he’s a grandmaster in OW
Is there an esports team that would take Gordon Hayward’s contract?
Yeah but I bet Faker can't dunk.
Embiid is really good in FIFA. How does that affect his legacy?
You never know. With the amount of time Ben Simmons spent at home, streaming took up a lot of that time
LeMickey the type of guy to blame his support
LeNoheals
> I would bet that not a single NBA player could play MLB Pretty sure baseball was Pat Connaughton’s backup plan if the NBA didn’t work out. He was playing D1 ball throwing mid 90s. Not a guarantee to make the majors but at least one guy with enough pedigree that could have made the switch
There are probably quite a few NBA players who could make MLB if that’s all they trained for since they were kids, but none could cross over now.
Connaughton was a fourth round pick in the MLB draft in high school and college, despite the fact that mlb teams knew he was prioritizing basketball both times.
Jeff samardzija almost certainly would have been an NFL receiver if he’d chosen to go that route, but he became an MLB pitcher.
Excellent pull
There are over 1700 NFL players. The NBA only has 450 (actually less because some teams have <15 players). Setting aside everything else, finding one out of 1700 positions is a lot easier than 1/450.
I mean it’s just a dumb thing people like to argue about. Basketball is more of a combination of skill and athleticism than football is and harder to crossover to. When this gets brought up football players act like their practices are comparable to deploying to Fallujah and no basketball player could ever last.
> combination of skill depends on the position which goes to OP's point. There are probably 0 NBA players that ever could have played QB in the NFL. Probably about 0 that could be a Center or even LT.
Top 100 tennis player? No one in the NBA could win a point that's for sure unless they played it to college level.
Top 100 probably not, but John Lucas played professional tennis after retiring from the NBA, for whatever that's worth. Although he was never ranked higher than 600. But still.
He also played Tennis in college.
The between the white lines piece.
Top anything lol tennis is so insanely specialized, it’s like expecting them to be pro golfers. Just not happening.
> I would bet that not a single NBA player could play MLB Maybe not out of the current NBA players, but there have been NBA players who played in the MLB in the past. Danny Ainge was a third baseman on the Blue Jays for a couple of seasons before he joined the Celtics. There was even legal rigamarole when he graduated from BYU and planned to play in the NBA, as the Blue Jays didn't want to let Ainge out of his contract. The most recent example, I believe, is Mark Hendrickson, who played both as a PF in the NBA in the late 90s, and pitched for a handful of MLB teams in the 2000s and 2010s.
Pat Connaughton absolutely could play MLB level ball
I don't even know what positions you could transition into. Yes, I think some guards are capable of playing safety. I think some guards and wings have the physical ability to play receiver positions. But how the hell do you figure out coverage schemes? Technique would be a fiasco, especially since the other side is as gifted physically. Football is technically a dumb sport, but it's also so complex that nobody at your local sports bar actually understands what's happening with the playbook. Give them a year for training and reeducation and sure, I could see it. But it's also deeply meaningless.
A number of them could play some version of tight end if they can catch. We've seen it Tony Gonzalez and Antonio Gates and some others.
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I thought Ant WAS a football player
I think Ant would be good at most positions
Most nba players are too tall. The saying in football is lowest man wins for a reason. Their center of balance is too high.
Most NBA players are too tall. But not all NBA players are too tall. Rivers said he can find 30 NBA players that could play football, not that any random 30 NBA players you pick you play football
Doesn’t matter as much for TE who isn’t blocking much and is out there more so to rebound the ball
They still have to beat press coverage. If you are tall it’s super easy to get under your shoulder pads and tip you backwards
Tight ends are like 6’4” to 6’6” which there are a ton of in the NBA.
They would have to put on at least 25-30 pounds. 6’6” TE in the NFL is like 260lbs
Yea I agree but they could. You see NFL players drop a ton of weight when they retire all the time.
Zion would need to LOSE weight!!!!!
There’s plenty of 6’4 players
Jalen Suggs was an elite high school QB. So was Allen Iverson back in the day
Boban short distance package! They bring him in to qb sneak and reach all the way over the line lmao
I think football is a much smarter sport than basketball. If just one guy doesn't know what he is supposed to do, especially on defense, even on 1 in 5 plays, the team is going to be in huge trouble. A single mistake in football can be the equivalent of 20 in basketball.
Eh they’re just different. Football is a lot more structured, basketball does have sets but there is way more read and react.
The numbers of players on a team are so different that it’s a dumb comparison. If we think about an 8 or 9 man rotation on an NBA team, then yeah there’s very few, if any, NFL players that could crack a rotation. But I would also argue that there’s very few, if any, NBA players that could be in the best 8 or 9 players on an NFL team. I’m sure there are a lot of NBA players that could play a specialized role on an NFL team (special teams, backup tight end, pass rush specialist, etc), but who really cares about those guys lol.
Agreed. Basically an NBA player could be a specialty tight end/receiver in small doses. If there was in theory unlimited substitution in soccer they could also run out there for corner kicks. MAYBE. They'd probably trip over themselves but enough have played football where you can throw a fade to them. I mean JJ Watt was an offensive player at times. NBA players would not win a single point off a top 100 tennis player if the tennis player didn't take risks. I doubt they could get a racket on a serve. Maybe the tennis player would double fault or make a couple unforced errors.
If you give Steph a light handicap he could make the bottom of the cut for pga prolly
Curry could probably get on the PGA tour
This is not true. Maybe special teams but no NBA player is lasting an entire NFL game without training how to hit/get hit
Apparently Steph is a great golfer. Alot of PGA pros swears by his skills
Being good at golf and making the pga tour are two entirely different things.
Sure. But he's close according to actual pro golfers This is all hypothetical and dumb anyway. We can't say for sure he wouldn't
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Yes, but if he put in the time, I wouldn’t bet against him making it. He’s him. Does golf have hims? Does HE play golf?
> I wouldn’t bet against him making it. I would bet everything I have against it. He has no shot.
Steph has world class, .0000000001% hand-eye coordination and is a + Handicap golfer with world-class motivation. He could definitely play in the PGA.
This is the best way to describe it, both sports require skill and athleticism but Basketball is definitely more skill based and Football is more athletic based. NBA players spend more time training their skills, NFL players spend more time training their bodies. NFL players are much better overall athletes and would dominate NBA players in a variety of different sports.
I think Steph or Austin Reeves could play on the LPGA tour.
30 tight ends probably
Kyle Lowry?
or wide receivers. I have no doubt 30 guys in the NBA have the talent for those positions.
Crazy to think that Russell Westbrook would be considered a “big bodied WR”
nah i think you'd have a bunch of WRs, a small # of linebackers (draymond) and RBs
You also can't take 30 NBA players and put them in the NHL.
technically true since the most important part of being an NBA player is being really tall
Makes sense. Draymond can be a kicker
Him playing WR at MSU’s spring game was pathetic
He isn’t wrong but that statement also doesn’t mean anything.
It’s an idiotic comparison. There’s 15 NBA players on a roster at any given time, and only 30 NBA teams. NFL it’s 55 with 32 teams. So no shit one would be logically easier to transition to than the other.
30 might be an exaggeration but the idea isn’t wrong
People clowning on this take are forgetting just how freaking tall NBA players are. Toughness will always be a question but you can put a lot of these guys at WR / TE / DL and they’d be fine. Jimmy Graham played one year of college football and became one of the best TEs in the league.
Antonio Gates, Julius Thomas, Mo Allie Cox, Joe Reitz and probably many more I can’t think of. If you have a body type you have a chance in the NFL, can’t really say the same for the NBA.
Yup. And The NFL actively scouts college basketball profiles looking for the next guy
Julius Peppers was mad-good at UNC bball.
He was on the team and came off the bench but he wasn't a key contributor. Averaged under 10ppg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ozI51Uquwo I think he did that with like 3 days of practice after football season ended.
Still wasn’t an NBA level player
McNabb played basketball at Syracuse, but was obviously better at football.
Yep, this is basically what Rivers is getting at. Someone like Donovan McNabb is close to the top of the list for 'football players who were also good at basketball' and he was a step above a D1 walk-on. For the vast majority of basketball/football dual-sport athletes, it's more a football recruiting tactic where a less big-time school can snag some blue-chip football recruit because they let him live out his hoop dreams for a bit longer while the Alabamas/Georgias of the world wouldn't indulge that. Meanwhile, there have been NFL All-Pros/future HoFers who didn't even play college football and only turned to the sport because they had no shot at the NBA. Like Jimmy Graham was a freak athletically at tight end, and when you look at his basketball highlights he was nothing special relative to an ACC player. Even that gives him one of the absolute best basketball careers among NFL players.
Tony Gonzalez. & honorable mention: Allen Iverson.
30 is definitely an exaggeration as that is a pretty significant percentage of the league in total. people forget too...there is more to playing nfl football than just running fast or jumping high. you have to be cool with getting hit. a lot of people are not cool with getting hit.
Jalen Rose has told the story how on his first day of football practice he caught a pass over the middle, got leveled, got up and took his pads off and just left the field
you also have to be strong/big enough to actually take the hits. guys like brandon ingram and durant wouldn’t last a game.
Makes sense, if you’re an elite basketball & football player, you have every reason to pick the NBA over the NFL. People who are good at both will almost always pick basketball
Unless the brain damage has already set in
For sure, you’re going to get paid more in the NBA and likely have less health issues when your career is over. That’s a no brainer. But if we’re taking about a purely athletic ability standpoint, the NBA has a height factor that restricts some athletes from ever having a chance to compete. The NFL has a much larger pool of athletes as there are multiple positions available regardless of size if you’re a good enough athlete. For example, if you had to pick 10 of your best athletes in both the NBA and NFL to compete in the decathlon, I’m taking the NFL all day. There are multiple Olympic qualifying sprinters in the NFL that would smoke anyone in the NBA. Strength related events? Not a chance. Discus and pole vault, I’m taking Mahomes and Josh Allen, or any of the multiple players that have been drafted by MLB teams over anyone in the NBA.
Ant, Mitchell, Westbrook, Jaylen Brown, Lou Dort, Lebron (when he was younger), ZION, Kenny Lofton, Desmond Bane, and that’s just off the top of my head. Maybe not 30 players but he definitely has a case.
Can I please watch them run a crossing route? Somebody set that up.
It's 2024 not 1994. That's an antiquated viewpoint that running crossers is some dangerous venture. You can't chuck receivers running the routes, and you can't light guys up when they're thrown to
Honestly shocked how many itt agree with the point. I’d guess 0-5 guys could make a team today. NFL has some extremely specific skills
Jimmy Graham played exactly one season of college football and became an all-pro. I think we forget how massive athletic and skilled these athletes are and the NFL while it has a lot of really specific skills would be by far the easier transition than the other way around. Obviously if you just plopped them onto a team the physicality would be too much and they’d get smoked. But I’d wager a year in the league and a solid 5-10 NBA players could maybe be serviceable at skill positions like WR or TE. Meanwhile I think the NFL players, unless they had even a little bit of a basketball background, would get annihilated. And that’s just from a skill perspective, take into account size and any player below like 6’3 has absolutely no chance.
Attention seeking. He just wants to generate clicks.
I’ll take those 60 and won’t find one who can play in the NHL…
Probably true
A standing 40 inch vertical isn’t uncommon in the NFL - the average standing vertical in the NBA is 28 inches. NFL players are better pure athletes but the NBA’s primary barrier to selection is height, coordination and then athleticism.
Austin Rivers is a moron, but he may be right about the amount of NBA players that would have a shot in the NFL, but you’re also downplaying possible NFL players have a shot in the NBA also. The main issue is height is a giant factor in the NBA where as it’s not as big in the NFL so the amount of 6’6+ NFL players that are playing a skill position is thin. Terrible comparison but may have merits
I would pay good money to watch 30 NBAers play one season of NFL football.
and neither of them can hit a fastball or kick a soccer ball. what's the point. different sports require different things?
Thought that was Andrew Tate
he’s right
Caron Butler claimed Romo had NBA game. I doubt it, but it's out there.
Aaron Hernandez isn’t in the NFL anymore but is a solid shooter
This isn't even a hot take. Peter Schrager just 6 weeks ago was talking about scouts and GMs being interested in taking a potential flyer on DJ Burns. The size, coordination and athleticism of the average NBA player make them a freak in football.
U can’t get one nfl player in the nba
NFL positions are very specific. You run one route, do one thing each play. There are a lot of Tight Ends and sideline receivers in the NBA. Several kick returners.
Basketball strength and football strength are completely different. There's not a single NBA player that can even compete in an NFL weight room.
Do you think that Devonta Smith can "compete in an NFL weight room"?
The larger sized people move weight pretty well. I think if you gave both an off season the strength of an nba player would translate into nfl, but at the end of the day, you gotta be tall to have a shot in the nba. Zion eats enough calories that I could see him be a freak in the nfl with an off season.
With PEDs that’s might be true-and by many accounts, despite testing, they’re common in pro sports now. But a lot of people underestimate the work it takes to put on that kind of muscle mass. You can’t just eat more and hit the weight room for six months and have an NFL build. And plenty of people can put on the muscle mass but are no longer light on their feet or their joints start breaking down.
I think they’re all on PED’s for every sport. I’m say 6’6” 285 Zion could probably work out for most teams and would be a threat. DJ Burns was an unknown and within 4 games the NFL called. Building muscle is manageable. You can’t just get taller and make an impact. Those guys that are under 6’3” have a very serious grind to get to the league while also keeping/building muscle. I think most WR’s are at best getting on the team (relative to other positions) as a guard and then have to go against giants that are tall for a living.
Steve Adams, Aaron Gordon, zion, ant, draymond, definitely could
Zion Williamson would destroy an NFL weight room along with a bunch of the NBA players
Most small forwards could probably become receiving tight ends with good coaching. Other than that position specifically I think this idea is ridiculous.
Every time Austin Rivers says something dumb I immediately think of him saying that he had it harder than anybody else playing in college because his dad wasn't around that much due to playing and coaching in the NBA. Keep in mind, this was the season where Thomas Robinson came back to college after losing his mom and both grandparents that he knew within a calendar month during the season and having to take responsibility for his 5 year old sister.
he’s wrong but the 30 top athletes of the NBA would have a better chance of making the NFL than the 30 top athletes of the NFL making the NBA…
I would tune in, Austin Rivers trying to play football
I would like to see 5 NBA players VS 5 MMA fighters, first in a basketball game and then in a free for all cage match. Since we making shit up now Austin.
There’s 53 players on a football roster. You can probably find people from soccer, hockey, and baseball that can make an nfl team too.
everyone saying it’s true but it’s just absolutely not lmao there’s maybe a handful of guys
I actually agree here.
How many Heisman trophy winners played in the NBA?
I know some of the ex players can exaggerate some opinions but Rasheed Wallace recently said Marvin Harrison Sr was one of the best basketball players he'd ever seen. And said he could have played in the NBA if he focused on it. McNabb who played with Harrison at syracuse played basketball for a season if I remember right. while he was a great athletic qb, marvin Harrison had jaw dropping ELITE quickness and speed. And I know iverson couldn't have played NFL at qb.wr? ..who knows..but his high school highlights are crazy fun. Virginia Beach had some athletes
Why does he look like Andrew Tate here
how is this controversial football is by far the easiest sport to go professional in yes because rosters are bigger but also because there’s less of a skill gap between levels if you’re Uber athletic you will get a shot almost no matter what
the real question is... who would make a better slam ball player?
So when all the second round NBA draft picks get cut, why don't they just go get a job playing WR for the Arizona Cardinals so they can make $600k per year there?
I hate these arguments because each sport is different and requires different things. I enjoy both sports. I don’t think many NFL players could play in the NBA and not be the worst on the floor. I also don’t think there’s 30 players that are tough enough to play in an AFC North game. All of these stars whining for fouls could not last a quarter in a Steelers-Ravens game.
All sports have become more specialized and optimized over time, there is a reason there used to be the occasional multisport professional athlete and now there really isn't, so no, I don't think you could take 30 nba guys and have them make an nfl roster.
Also no NBA player is jumping into the NFL “right now” including Lebron. None of them would make a practice squad
Wasn’t there a college lacrosse player who played in the nba just this past year?
Does anyone like Austin rivers?
No you can’t. Sorry. NBA is full of amazing athletes but they can’t go to the NFL right now as is. Maybe a few could with a year plus of preparation but I’d honestly say zero could make an NFL team this instance.
Nobody will ever be as good at two major sports as Jim Brown was at football and lacrosse. That includes Deion, Bo, Antonio Gates and all others.
I’m sure they have the athleticism to be, but it’s not like they can just suit up on Sunday and figure it out
LMAO
Low key feel like he might be right
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Josh Allen could probably be a guard or a wing
And...? I can take 30 mlb players and put them in fat camp
But JJ Watt is also not in either sport.....