Back in 2011, the NBA was in the midst of a lockout. The league’s biggest star, LeBron James, didn’t know how long the lockout would last, and he actually started implementing football into his training regimen around October or November of that year.
So much so, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones offered James a contract to play for the Dallas Cowboys. Apparently, the offer was given a lot of thought.
"We started to train to be a football player."
During the 2011 @NBA lockout, @KingJames thought about making those @NFL dreams come true 🏈
Full story on #WRTS After Party with @pr_RWTW and @mavcarter
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At the time, the Cowboys were in their first full year under head coach Jason Garrett, who had taken over in the interim for Wade Phillips in the disappointing season of 2010. The 6-foot-9 star would’ve made an intriguing option for Tony Romo and the passing game during the early stages of Dez Bryant’s career and the apex of tight end Jason Witten’s.
“We really started to actually train to be a football player,” James said. “We started to clock our times with the 40s. We started to add a little bit more with the bench press and things of that nature. We started to add a little more sled to our agenda with our workouts.”
His trainer Mike Mancias, a native Texan, and fellow Cowboys fan, began to encourage James on the idea of playing for America’s Team.
“The thoughts came into my mind. But never having the ability to finish my high school career of playing like my senior year, I have dreams all the time about playing football. It’s crazy, because I actually never run on the field in my dreams. It always gets to the point where I’m either in the locker room or getting dressed or talking about it or seeing the fans. As soon as I am about to run onto the field, something else happens in my dream. Something always happens like that.”
James was a two-time all-state receiver in Ohio, even receiving recruiting interest from Notre Dame. However, he didn’t play his senior year due to a wrist injury and went number one in the NBA Draft in 2003.
He’s an all-time great in basketball, but the idea of him playing for the Cowboys is a very intriguing one.
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