When Deion Sanders declared he almost played in the NBA: "I was really close to playing for the Atlanta Hawks for one game"
Deion Sanders almost played in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks in the early 1990s. Sanders would have become a three-sport athlete since he was already playing in the NFL and MLB at the time.
In an interview on Sports Illustrated in 2016, "Prime Time" revealed that he was close to playing one game for the Hawks. Stan Kasten, the former Atlanta Hawks and Braves president, gave Sanders permission to play in one NBA game. Deion Sanders said:
"I was close, I mean really close. This is a breaking story. I was really close to playing for the Atlanta Hawks for one game. When I was with the Braves, Kasten was going to allow me to play in an NBA game so that I could play three professional sports."
While Sanders did not feature in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks, he was confident he could have scored at least 10 points. At 6'1 weighing around 198 pounds in his prime, Sanders would have played at point guard. Some of the top point guards of the early '90s include John Stockton, Gary Payton and Tim Hardaway. Sanders continued:
"I convinced Kasten that I could get him 10 points. I was going to get two steals, all right, and I could make the layups, so that was four. I was going to get to the free throw line, and I was going to hit one out of two free throws. I know me, I'm not going to hit both of them, so I got seven.
"And just by being in the right place at the right time, I was going to get another two. Now I just gotta pray for one more and I would have had 10."
Sanders is often considered one of the greatest athletes in sports history. He played in the NFL for 14 seasons, winning two Super Bowl championships.
The Pro Football Hall of Famer is the only athlete in history to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series. He's also the only athlete to play two professional sports on the same day. He played for the Atlanta Falcons against the Miami Dolphins on October 11, 1992 before flying to Pittsburgh to play for the Atlanta Braves.
Deion Sanders participated in the 1992 Footlocker Dunk Contest
In 1992, Deion Sanders joined the likes of Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Conley Sr., Michael Irvin, Barry Bonds, Chris Carter and Mike Powell in the Celebrity Slam Dunk Contest.
Sanders showed off his hops by doing a self alley-oop dunk and an off-the-backboard dunk. Conley, father of Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley, won the contest after dunking from the free throw line in the final. The NBA held the same event in 1996, which was won by Carter.