This past saw a battle between NBA and NFL players over a quote from Austin Rivers in which he claimed he could take 30 NBA players, drop them in the NFL, and they’d succeed right away, while NFL players could not do the same in the NBA.
The response from the vast majority of NFL players who chimed in was, unsurprisingly, to say that’s a ridiculous thing to say. It’s the perfect kind of hypothetical debate to take over social media, because there is no way to prove it (no one from either sport is going to make the transition), but it’s very easy to yell about it on Twitter, a podcast, or TV show.
The truth is there are probably a few players that could make the crossover from each sport, but none would be particularly great because, well, they’ve spent their adult lives perfecting their craft in an entirely different arena. There are a few guys in the NBA that physically fit the bill and could likely hold their own. One of them is Thunder wing Luguentz Dort, who is listed at 6’4, 220 pounds and looks every bit of it. During Saturday’s Game 3 between the Mavs and Thunder, noted Dallas fan Patrick Mahomes was seated courtside next to Dave Pasch and Hubie Brown and couldn’t help but chime in on the debate, telling Pasch he thinks Dort could be an NFL linebacker tomorrow.
"Patrick Mahomes, unsolicited, just turned to Hubie and I and said Lu Dort could play in the NFL." –@DavePasch 🤔 pic.twitter.com/rGEpr9IoKu
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 11, 2024
I am not going to argue with Mr. Mahomes on this one, as Dort certainly seems like one of the rare NBA players not only built like an NFL player physically, but embraces physicality enough to actually survive playing football. I don’t think 30 of those exist, as Rivers said, but Dort would have to be on the shortlist.
