Super Bowl Special: NBA Players that could've made the NFL

This season, the NFL has been so incredibly wild even us ballers from KICKZ can’t get past it: Nerve-wrecking playoff games almost all going down to the wire featuring last minute last play decisions. Tom Brady’s retirement, which first went viral, was then denied by Tom Brady Sr., then made official by the football GOAT himself (just like in basketball: there is no real GOAT discussion) a couple of days later. And a Super Bowl where I honestly can’t tell which QB I want to see under the confetti-rain after the game has ended. Now that’s wild!

Admittedly you might think: “Hold up! Why are my favourite ballers from KICKZ talking about football and the NFL like they are Larry Brown talking to A.I.?”

But we wouldn’t be KICKZ if we would simply jump on the NFL bandwagon and tell you stories you have heard many times before. Nuh-uh.

We created a list of NBA stars that we think could have made the NFL, looking at their high school and college stats and tapes.

ALLEN IVERSON

Rookie of the Year in 1997. 11-time All-Star. NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2001. Hall-of-Fame inductee in 2016, saying in his HOF-speech that if he stuck to football he would probably be the best football player in the world. Yup. You read that right. From a young age A.I.'s heart was beating for football and he repeatedly told the media that it was his first love and he was way better at it than at playing basketball. In high school he won a state championship, was scouted by top football-colleges and put up crazy numbers playing different positions all over the field - his 21 interceptions in two years are still a state record to date. But why then did Iverson take basketball over football? The answer is simple: “I just didn’t like [lifting] weights because I thought they were too heavy, but football I know I would’ve had to lift”. So we here talkin’ bout practice… again.

LEBRON JAMES

What is better proof of the GOAT runner-up (behind MJ and Kobe of course) being an absolute machine on the turf than scholarship offers from colleges like Ohio State, Alabama, Miami and Notre Dame during his high-school days AND a real contract-offer from the Dallas Cowboys during the 2011 NBA lockout? LeBron James is a physical beast and today’s NFL stars like Calvin Johnson and DK Metcalf would look tiny compared to Bron. Besides that, he really delivered in his high school days, becoming a two-time All-Ohio selection after switching his position from quarterback to wide receiver and totaling 99 catches, 1,912 receiving yards and 27 touchdowns in those two years.

NATE ROBINSON

Before Nate Robinson conquered the NBA as a 5-foot-9 Slam Dunk machine, he was a star football player in high school who later went to play for the University of Washington on a football scholarship. As a freshman in Washington he started to play wide receiver and returned kicks. After he transitioned to cornerback for the final six games of his freshman season, he became a starter, intercepting two passes and recording over 34 tackles. Starting his sophomore season he decided to quit the team and focus on basketball (what else would you do as a 5-foot-9 dude?!). But, the decision clearly paid off as he had 11 successful years in the NBA, dropping 11 points per game and more importantly becoming the first (!) three-time Slam Dunk Contest winner despite his lack of size. After he ended his NBA career in 2016 he almost managed to pursue his NFL dreams by playing for the Seattle Seahawks. But in the end, unfortunately, he didn’t get signed.

GLEN “BIG BABY” DAVIS

In his high school days, Davis was playing positions like running back, offensive tackle, defensive end and defensive tackle and was ranked the fifth best offensive lineman in the country. Because he wanted to focus on basketball he decided to quit football before his senior year, even though he got recruited by LSU, Miami and Oklahoma State. In hopes that Davis would change his mind, multiple NFL teams showed their interest in him during the 2007 NFL draft, even though he did not play any football as a HS senior or in college. When Big Baby went to college, he finally decided to leave football behind and accepted a scholarship at LSU. Shaquille O’ Neal's alma mater.

ANTHONY EDWARDS

“I’d rather be drafted to the NFL” aren’t the words you might assume to hear from a guy that ends up being drafted by an NBA team no. 1 overall. But well, that is the case for Anthony Edwards who has been embarrassing defenders as a Minnesota Timberwolf since last season. Only a few know he was playing for the Vikings before that. Not the Minnesota Vikings however, but the Atlanta Vikings in his football-prime-age of 10-11 years. He was a star playing all the main positions in the offense and the defense. However, as soon as he was able to dunk at the age of 13, he knew that he had talents and requirements that others don’t have and traded in his cleats for basketball kicks.