Brian Windhorst Reveals Unique Reason LeBron James Refused To Quit Playing Football In High School

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LeBron James has been in the spotlight since he made a name for himself as the most electric high school basketball player in the country, but he was also a highly-touted football prospect during his time at St. Vincent–St. Mary. No one would’ve blamed him for focusing on the sport that made him a billionaire, and while he almost walked away from the gridiron, he apparently opted to stick with it due to the death of a famous singer.

Brian Windhorst is currently best known for teasing viewers with juicy NBA rumors on ESPN, but the reporter really got his start covering James when he was still Just A Kid From Akron (they actually attended the same alma mater).

Windhorst eventually co-wrote a book chronicling LeBron’s rise to superstardom, and there aren’t many people out there who are more familiar with his past than the man known as “Windy.”

On Wednesday, Windhorst dropped by NBA Today and shared an interesting tidbit while discussing LeBron’s high school football career. He said James had initially planned to focus exclusively on basketball heading into his junior year, but had a change of heart in the wake of the tragic death of R&B icon Aaliyah, saying he “decided he wasn’t going to live life scared.”

As I alluded to above, there are plenty of people who think LeBron could’ve made it to the NFL if he’d opted to focus on football.

In 2022, he told Eli and Peyton Manning the Cowboys and the Seahawks both reached out to him to see if he had any interest in suiting up for them during the NBA lockout in 2011.

It seems unlikely he’ll attempt to play in college when he ends up retiring despite teasing the possibility, but he has said he’s interested in coaching the sport at the high school level at some point.