FIRST Take got into a heated debate over whether or not NBA players could succeed in the NFL.
Kendrick Perkins and Shannon Sharpe got into it on Monday’s episode of First Take, discussing whether or not basketball skills translate to football.
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The debate began with former NBA player Austin Rivers saying on the Pat McAfee Show that 30 NBA players could make it to the NFL, but not the other way around.
“I can take 30 players right now in the NBA and put them in the NFL,” Rivers said.
“You can’t take 30 NFL players and put them in the NBA.”
Perkins, a former NBA player, and Sharpe, a former NFL player, had differing opinions on the matter.
“I want to make sure I’m hearing you and Austin Rivers correctly,” Sharpe said.
“Can you take 30 current players right now and play in the NFL? I’m not saying they’ve played before. I’m not saying you give them a year, two years to train.”
Sharpe then questioned whether even five NBA players could make it to the NFL, to which Perkins gave a resounding yes.
“You’ve lost your mind,” Sharpe said.
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Sharpe also said that basketball players are more skilled than NFL players, saying that throwing the ball was a more difficult thing to do.
However, he insisted that an NBA player would be unable to translate his skills to the NFL.
“The difference between football and basketball is the mentality,” Sharpe said.
“We go there and try to move a man against his will. We’re not trying to run people over, we’re trying to run people over.”
Stephen A. Smith enjoyed the long-distance discussion while Perkins and Sharpe continued, and offered no opinion on the matter.
On the other hand, fans had a lot of ideas about who could play in each league and shared their ideas.
“There are not 30 NBA players that can play in the NBA right now and there are not 30 NFL players that can play in the NBA right now. Now let’s wrap this up,” said one fan.
“I agree with Shannon. Sure you could find guys athletic enough to train and play at this level. But you’re not finding NBA guys to come in without training and starting,” said another fan.
“NBA players would be much better WRs and CBs,” said a third fan.
“You have NBA stars failing with the lightest touch. Like you say they will be fine being lit up by a linebacker or a safety coming at full speed lmao,” said a fourth fan.
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