LeBron James has revealed he often ‘dreams’ about what he could have achieved in the NFL – had he not chosen to pursue a career on the court.
The Los Angeles Lakers star also told Travis and Jason Kelce that he gave a career-switch ‘super-duper serious’ consideration back in 2011 – when a labor dispute led to a 161-day lockout in the NBA.
James is one of the greatest basketball players of all time but a couple of decades ago, he was also a promising wide receiver.
The 40-year-old was once reportedly considered the No 1 player coming out of high school in Ohio. At 6ft 8 and 232lbs, he received recruiting interest from a number of big-name schools.
James instead chose to focus on basketball but on Wednesday he discussed the NFL with the Kelce brothers on the latest episode of New Heights.
‘We know you played football back in the day… has it ever crossed your mind what you could actually do in the NFL?’ Travis asked the 40-year-old.
‘Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely,’ LeBron said. ‘I’ve had serious dreams about this s***, all the time. All the time!’
LeBron explained: ‘The ball is never kicked off… it’s me in the warm-ups, it’s me coming out, running my routes, and then right when the game starts I f***ing wake up. It lets me know I’m not supposed to be out there.’
Chiefs star Travis pressed James about whether he had ‘ever given serious thought’ to a year in another sport.
‘The only time I’ve taken it super-duper serious was 2011, NBA lockout… I didn’t know when we were going to make the deal with our owners and get our league back going,’ LeBron replied.
‘So I actually thought about it a little bit back then. I was still young enough to get out there with y’all. That’s the only time I’ve seriously considered it.’
