Charles Barkley calls out LeBron James' wish to play NFL: "These are grown men, they'll kill you"
Basketball Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley roasted NBA players like LeBron James for thinking that playing in the NFL would be an easy transition for them. He said football is a totally different game, requiring a particular set of skills to succeed in it.
Speaking on "Inside the NFL", the one-time NBA MVP shared that he finds it ridiculous that some players in the league think they can play professional football that easily, banking on their athleticism and build.
Barkley shared with the panel:
“I always laugh when some of these guys … Uh, LeBron James. Guys like that, talk about they could have played football. And I love LeBron James as a person. But the notion that basketball players can play football. Like, yeah, they could play in high school ‘cause they were bigger than everybody else, faster than everybody else.
“But most these guys never really played in college. That’s when you really see how good you are when you go to college. And if you’re lucky enough to get to the pros, that’s the crème de la crème… But I love these basketball players talking about, ‘Well I was good back then.’ I’m like ‘Dude, you can’t play football. These are grown men out there, they’ll kill you.’”
LeBron James throughout his NBA career has expressed affinity for football and admitted to having an itch to play in the NFL at some point, envisioning himself as a wide receiver.
He shared this feeling in an episode of "The Shop" a couple of years back:
“Yeah, yeah, I still got the itch to play. I got the itch, man. Wide receiver, for sure. If I was in the red zone, especially in the red zone. One-on-one... me out there with one of those small lil' cornerbacks. Just throw it up, just throw it up.”
LeBron James on choosing basketball over football
While how good LeBron James would have been in football at this point is up for debate, there is no denying, however, that in basketball he has become one of the greatest, if not the greatest, to do it. And he has an interesting reason why he chose hoops over the gridiron.
In a video post for his LeBron James Foundation on Instagram, "The King" shared that he chose to make a career in basketball rather than football because he did not want to play outdoors during winters in Ohio.
The four-time NBA champion said:
"Growing up in Ohio was just like, I love playing football, but when the winter hit ... you gotta be a different beast to play football in the rain, sleet, snow and hail and still love it. You know, and that's part of the reason why Ohio, the state, makes some of the best football players ever.
"But I also wanted to be warm, too. So, basketball, I could still get that comradery, I could still get that teamwork, still get that friendship, still get that competitive edge, and be warm."
While playing basketball at St. Vincent-St. Mary, LeBron James also played wide receiver for the school’s football team. He eventually decided to concentrate on the basketball lane.
But despite that, he remains connected to football as a fan, even regularly giving his take on NFL games on social media.