There are a multitude of professional sports that exist in the world, and each sport comes with its own challenges. Players who can jump from one sport to the next and be good in both is a rarity. Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders comes to mind, as he is arguably the greatest defensive back in NFL history, but was also a fantastic professional baseball player.
Being highly impactful in more than one sport is nearly impossible, but some athletes like Sanders have been able to do so. Even if an NFL player isn’t great at basketball, they often respect the professionals who are at their level on the NBA side of things.
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That is not the case for former NBA role player Austin Rivers, who is catching all kinds of heat from current and former NFL players for his rant about professional basketball players on the “Pat McAfee Show.”
Rivers tells McAfee, “Where the best athletes in the world are [NBA], that’s us. You could take 30 player right now and throw them into the NFL. You cannot take 30 NFL players and put them in the NBA… all you gotta do is catch the ball and run North or South… it ain’t that complex.”
McAfee tries to reason with Rivers, but it does not go very well. The former NBA role player’s comments have naturally led to many responses from current and former NFL players.
Superstar edge rusher J.J. Watt went after Rivers in a concise and brutal way by stating in his X post, “You don’t got a job in either right now, go head and try it…”
Former NFL running back Mike Davis replied with a more sensical comment by saying, “Idk why y’all think football so easy.”
Former NFL quarterback Matt Leinart found the Rivers comments to be comical, as he stated, “😂😂 and do what ?? What are they doing in the NFL??”
Leinart has a major point in that NBA players are trained to be good at basketball. Throwing them headfirst into the NFL would be disastrous. The same could be said for football players being thrown into the world of basketball.
Both games are extremely different from one another. They operate at different paces, have very different rules, and take a whole different type of conditioning and training.
Rivers’ comments about professional football being easier and not “complex” are so far removed from the truth. Professional athletes from all sports respect one another for being great at their respective game, and these comments stating one is far easier than the other are ridiculous.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
