There aren’t many professional athletes who have found success within multiple sporting disciplines. Players like Deion Sanders are pretty rare; even Michael Jordan wasn’t as great when he stepped away from basketball to play baseball.
Allen Iverson could have probably made the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but maintaining a basketball and football schedule would have been virtually impossible. Maybe he could have tried football after retirement, but we’ll never know. Fans have seen some impressive footage from the former Philadelphia 76ers star, who has repeatedly admitted to preferring football over basketball.
Iverson has also revealed he would have attempted to play both basketball and football in college had his legal issues not ruined his scholarship opportunities.
Devin Funchess Wants To Try Out For The NBA
Maybe we will see someone do it the other way around, however, with Devin Funchess now weighing up a switch to basketball.
The tight end was recently interviewed by Bally Sports’ Brandon Robinson and disclosed that, while he isn’t closing the door on returning to the NFL, he is keen on making it to the NBA. To be fair, Funchess appears to have a decent jumper, and his physicality would probably make him a threat both on offense and defense.
“I know I’d have to go overseas and play to get some film, but after that, my dream growing up was to play in the NBA,” he explained. “So that’s my main goal. That’s what I’m going to make happen.”
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Funchess, 28, also hasn’t played on an actual basketball team since his high school days 12 years ago but he said he would have tried out for the basketball program at Michigan if his football coach, Brady Hoke, had permitted it.
The Michigan native hasn’t played in the NFL since suiting up once for the Indianapolis Colts in 2019, a game during which he made three catches. He has since been signed by the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, and Detroit Lions but didn’t see any action as he opted out of his first season with the Packers due to COVID-19 and was injured in the next. The 49ers and Lions signed him but released him not long after.
Funchess still harbors hopes of playing in the NBA. He’s probably at the right place in terms of age, yet he will be the first to admit that he’ll have to prove he deserves a shot at pro basketball.
