LeBron James has a passion for basketball, but he also has a love for football and came very close to being a member of the Dallas Cowboys. The Los Angeles Lakers star was on Uninterrupted on Monday night and talked about possibly playing football during the NBA lockout in 2011. He starting training to become a football player, and his longtime friend and business partner Maverick Carter admitted Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones offered him a contract.
“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. “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.” James played high school football at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio, and was recruited by Ohio State University, as mentioned by CBS Sports. James didn’t play football his senior year as he focused on basketball, but he said he dreams about football constantly.
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“Never having the ability to finish my high school career of playing like my senior year, I have dreams all the time about playing football,” James said. “It’s crazy, because I actually never run on the field in my dreams. It always gets to the point where I’m either in the locker room or getting dressed or talking about it or seeing the fans. As soon as I am about to run onto the field, something else happens in my dream. Something always happens like that.”
James played wide receiver in high school and was an All-State player in his junior year, James recorded 57 receptions for 1,160 yards and 16 touchdowns. James’ production that year was a big reason the team reached the state semifinals. Along with Ohio State, James was being recruited by Alabama and Miami (Florida), according to Bleacher Report.
If James decided to make the move to football, would he have made the Cowboys initial 53-man roster? It’s easy to say no, but there have been plenty of athletes to make NFL rosters with less football experience. Also, with James’ basketball skills, he was the tools to be a strong tight end as Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez and future Hall of Famer Antonio Gates have basketball backgrounds. That said, James made the right choice by sticking with basketball as he’s considered one of the best to ever play the game.
