Certain NBA players have been known to be delusional, and former NBA guard Austin Rivers is definitely one of them. In a wild tirade this week on “The Pat McAfee Show,” in which the son of NBA coach Doc Rivers clearly lost his mind, Rivers tried to insult the skill, toughness and athleticism one must have to play in the NFL.
“We gotta get you out of that football lane, man,” Rivers said. “Where the guaranteed contracts are. Where the best athletes in the world are. That’s us.”
“I can take 30 players right now and throw them in the NFL. You cannot take 30 NFL players and put them in the NBA,” he continued. “It’s because you get a break after every play. All you gotta do is catch the ball and run north and south. It ain’t complex.”
NFL Community Strikes Back At Austin Rivers
It’s good to see that Rivers shares the same delusion that plenty of NBA players probably do, because the deals some of these players get turns their brains into mush and egos into balloons. Any NBA player who claims to be able to play football would be considered lying until he at least took a couple of Aaron Donald hits, right?
There were many objections to the notion taken across sports talk and social media. Former NFL player James Jones said:
“Austin Rivers, if you stepped on the football field homeboy, you wouldn’t make it. We know that right now, because you barely made it in the NBA.”
Videos of notorious NBA bully Draymond Green getting totally locked down in his brief stint as a receiver at Michigan State surfaced as proof that Rivers is wrong.
JJ Watt got a bit personal and then later walked his response back to keep the peace.
Ever Heard of Charlie Ward?
The only example of an athlete actually choosing one of those leagues over the other, with a legit chance to actually play in both leagues, was Heisman Trophy winner and former Florida State quarterback Charlie Ward. Ironically, Ward was considered undersized by NFL scouts (according to old systemic metrics) at 6 feet 2 and his dual-threat capabilities were looked down upon and his obvious intellectual capacity ignored at the time despite his obvious incredible skills that he exhibited with the Seminoles.
Imagine being too short for the NFL, but not the NBA?
Ward could have easily signed with an NFL team as an undrafted free agent and would almost guaranteed to be a No. 1 overall pick if he played today.
He fortunately had the option of playing in the NBA, and when the New York Knicks made him the 26th overall pick of the 1994 NBA draft he left his football dream behind. There’s one football player who definitely should have been in the NFL but settled for an 11-year NBA career.
NBA vs NFL Athletic Wars?
Maybe this will start an NFL vs NBA war of athletic skills, where the NBA players have to play football against the NFL players and vice versa.
Rivers will find that it’s much easier for an NFL player to go out there and drop 30 in hoops, than a basketball player to pad up on a football field and go heads up.
And saying this on a podcast is the safest place in the world to just speak your mind with no consequences because you know he’s not suiting up against any of those NFL players.
On top of that, the NBA is known as a “player’s league” or a league where the employees truly wield the power and can disrupt the flow of business, despite total white ownership. They are used to controlling narratives. LeBron James is one of the only players in the history of modern sports who is worth more money than his owner.
The highest quality and most followed Instagram models also prefer NBA players, according to a recent survey.
Austin Rivers Has Kyrie Flat Earth Syndrome?
So, it’s understandable that Rivers, an 11-year-veteran, who averaged 8.5 points per game throughout his career and who many have accused of only being in the league because his father is a former player and legendary coach, would spew something of which the exact opposite is true,
Kyrie flat Earth syndrome, NFL style.
Dual-Sport Athletes In NFL
Now there are a few examples of dual-sport athletes who played both basketball and football but were clearly destined for the NFL.
Antonio Gates (San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers), Mo Alie-Cox (Indianapolis Colts), Jimmy Graham (New Orleans Saints/Seattle Seahawks/Green Bay Packers/Chicago Bears), Tony Gonzalez (Kansas City Chiefs/Atlanta Falcons), Julius Peppers (Carolina Panthers/Chicago Bears/Green Bay Packers), Julius Thomas (Denver Broncos/Jacksonville Jaguars/Miami Dolphins), Darren Fells (Houston Texans).
But nobody has left the NBA and become an NFL player. No NFL player has transitioned to pro hoops. Not anyone of note, anyway. What we do know is the one thing that most athletes can do is hoop. Many top athletes, who are world class level, had options of either hooping or playing football. Bo Jackson proved that football is not a game you can moonlight on.
