LeBron James nearly played pro football during NBA lockout

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James joins team members during NBA basketball training outdoors in El Segundo, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020. The Lakers held their second practice Thursday, while they continue to grieve for former player Kobe Bryant. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

MANILA, Philippines — LeBron James is already widely-considered as one of the best basketball players of all time.

And yet, there’s one more sport where he could’ve been equally great at if not better.

“I don’t know if there’s ever been an athlete in our league like LeBron James,” said Doc Rivers, head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, on his son Austin Rivers’ Go Off podcast recently.

“I really believe if LeBron James played football, he may have been the greatest football player ever.”

Backing up Rivers’ praise is the fact that James was a decorated football player in high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron, Ohio.

Before choosing basketball as his career, James was an Ohio All-State receiver in his sophomore and junior seasons.

It also helps that James has the size at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds coupled with his strength, speed and athleticism.

In relation to Rivers’ comments, James on Tuesday revealed he considered playing football during the NBA lockout in 2011.

“I had no idea how long the lockout was gonna be and myself, my trainer…we really started to actually train to be a football player when it came to like October and November,” the Los Angeles Lakers superstar said on Uninterrupted, a multimedia platform he and his longtime friend Maverick Carter founded. “We started to clock out time with the 40’s, we started to add a little bit more in our bench presses and things of that nature.”

James’ NFL dreams never came true as the NBA lockout finally ended on Dec. 8.

Carter, though, bared James actually “got a contract” from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.