NBA player hints at shock career move to enter the GOAT debate with Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan vs LeBron James is the GOAT debate that might never be settled.

But another player wants to join them in the conversation – and he’d have to pull off a huge career shock to do so.

Jordan won three consecutive NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls between 1991 and 1993, before suddenly and unexpectedly retiring from basketball ahead of the following season.

Later claiming physical and mental exhaustion, the superstar swapped basketball for minor league baseball, and went to play for the Birmingham Barons – part of the farm system for the Chicago White Sox.

Jordan famously unretired and made the return to the Bulls in 1995, and went on to win three more Championship rings.

Now Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards has his eye on surpassing Jordan’s multi sports achievements by winning titles in both the NBA and the NFL.

In his career so far, Edwards has been named an All Star twice and won an Olympic Gold medal at the Paris Games.

But an NBA championship still eludes him, and he claims if he does win a ring in the next 3-4 years, he will make the switch to the NFL and try and win a Super Bowl.

Speaking as part of ESPN’s Cover Story, Edwards told NFL star wide receiver Justin Jefferson:

"I think it's easy. Football players can't go play basketball. I told my buddies, I said, 'If I win a ring in the next 3-4 years, I'm going to play football.”

A clearly shocked Jefferson responded: "No, you're not.”

Michael Jordan playing baseball

Jefferson is the face of the Minnesota Vikings NFL franchise, and the pair were being interviewed as part of a feature in which they recreate the iconic photo of Kevin Garnett and Randy Moss from 2000.

Edwards’ apparently lofty ambitions of becoming the first player to make the successful switch from the NBA to the NFL might be traced back to his childhood.

At the age of 10, the future NBA shooting guard was a star running back in youth football.

And back in 2020, he also claimed he could have made it in Major League Baseball if he chose.

He said: "I used to play baseball when I was young. I could have went to the MLB.

"I'm serious, I'm not even joking. I played pitcher, shortstop, third base, center field. I was fourth-fifth hitter. Straight clean-up.”