Written by Steven Ruiz at For The Win.com
LeBron James seems content with his two Olympic gold medals, but if he ever wanted to win one in a sport other than basketball, handball is definitely an option.
The game isn’t too dissimilar from basketball. There’s a lot of running, passing, jumping and shooting going on. And the United States men’s team isn’t very good at the moment, having failed to qualify for Rio, so he wouldn’t have too much trouble making the team.
So if LeBron did decide to pick up the sport, how long would it take for him to become the best player in the sport? The Washington Post’s Adam Kilgore asked U.S. national team coach Javier Garcia Cuesta that very question, and the answer is surprising:
“Maybe six months. This is just a hypothetical. He has everything. When you see him playing, your mouth drops.”
Six months! Six months? I can barely read a book in sixth months, let alone master an entirely foreign sport. Then again, I’m not LeBron James.
Kilgore also asked Denmark’s Mikkel Hansen, who’s widely considered the best player in the world, about LeBron’s chances of dominating the sport:
“It’s difficult to talk about that,” Hansen said, laughing. “I admire LeBron James very much. I’m a big basketball fan. The way he sees the court, his vision for the game, is very impressive. There you would have a good start. And physically, he is amazing. But you also need to throw the ball. So, yeah. Maybe.”
Here’s Denmark defender Morten Olsen’s thoughts:
“We always talk about it: If the Americans really wanted to play handball, they would be amazing. They have so many good athletes, and really big, strong athletes. It would be a big problem. Playing against LeBron James, that would be hard.”
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