NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley laughs off the notion that LeBron James and other basketball players could seamlessly transition to playing in the NFL.
It’s been a popular question amongst fans for decades: Which US sports league boasts the best athletes? Is it the NFL or the NBA?
The discourse stretches further than social media, as current and former athletes claim they would have succeeded if they had pursued a different sport.
Lakers star LeBron James is a prime example. James is one of many NBA stars who believes he would have been a superstar in the NFL. However, 16-year NBA veteran, Charles Barkley, isn’t buying it. He dismissed that stance in a recent appearance on Inside the NFL.
Charles Barkley downplays LeBron James’ NFL claim
“I always laugh when LeBron James and guys like that talk about how they could have played football,” Barkley said with a chuckle.
“The notion that basketball players can play football — yeah, they could play in high school when they were bigger and faster than everybody else. But most of these guys never really played in college,” the long-time analyst retorted.
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Barkley finished his thought by saying, “It’s like, dude, you can’t play football. These are grown men out here. They’ll kill you!”
Charles Barkley called out LeBron and other basketball players who think it's easy to waltz right into the NFL 😂 pic.twitter.com/Zh8qrd24VB
— Inside the NFL (@insidetheNFL) February 7, 2024
LeBron’s six-foot-nine, 250-pound build checks the boxes physically for an NFL player, while his blazing on-court speed would surely prove helpful on the gridiron.
To James’ credit, he played football during his first two years of high school and was fielding offers from prestigious NCAA programs like Notre Dame before focusing strictly on basketball.
Still, as Barkley suggests, playing in high school and playing in the NFL are two completely different animals. That rings true even for a one-of-one athlete like James.
