Deion Sanders Was Such A Freak Athlete That He Almost Played For The Atlanta Hawks Once

I know there’s always going to be debate over who the most freakish athlete ever has been, but you know what, after hearing what NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders recently spilled, Neon Deion has all but ended the argument, in my opinion.

Talking to SI Now’s Maggie Gray, Sanders—who, in the ’90s, was a rare two-sport athlete in both baseball and football—said this, per SI.com:

“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,” Sanders said. “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.”

Here’s the video proof:

While Sanders doesn’t reveal why the Hawks didn’t actually let it happen, he did add how he campaigned for it to at least be thought about, adding this:

“I convinced him that I could get him 10 points,” Sanders said. “I was going to get two steals, all right? And I could make the layups, so that was four [points]. 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.”

The Sporting News also noted that, during a 1992 Foot Locker Slam Dunk appearance, Deion even mentioned this exact situation, saying, “I’m trying to talk [the Hawks] into it right now. I’m trying to get them to sign me to a 10-day contract and let Prime Time be the first to play three sports in the same season.”

As if excelling at two pro sports wasn’t enough, Sanders nearly became the first three-sport athlete in the same season. Oh, don’t mind me, I’m just sitting here crying in the corner for having limited athletic ability.

[H/T Sports Illustrated]

Nick Dimengo avatar
Nick's a Sr. Editor for BroBible, mainly relying on his Sports Encyclopedia-like mind to write about things. He's also the co-host of the BroBible podcast "We Run This," and can be seen sweating his ass off while frequently running 10+ miles around Seattle.