With free agency still ongoing and the draft roughly a month away, there are plenty of NFL topics for content creators to pick from this time of year.
That, however, didn’t stop Will Compton from reigniting a debate typically reserved for the dog days of early summer: could NFL players seamlessly make the move to play in the NBA?
The Bussin’ With the Boys co-host raised the question following a viral video that showed highlights of DK Metcalf dominating a pickup game. Sure, the 6-foot-4 Metcalf is a world class athlete who appeared to be one of the taller players on the court. But that didn’t stop Compton from using the highlight reel to reignite a debate that was all the rage on ESPN airwaves 10 months ago.
“Just watching DK Metcalf here – it’s funny to me that people don’t think NFL players could play in the NBA,” the former NFL linebacker wrote.
Just watching DK Metcalf here – it’s funny to me that people don’t think NFL players could play in the NBA pic.twitter.com/cTbgRJHSiC
— Will Compton (@_willcompton) March 19, 2025
Compton’s post comes nearly one year after former shooting guard-turned-NBA analyst Austin Rivers made headlines on The Pat McAfee Show by making the opposite claim, stating that 30 NBA players could instantly play in the NFL. Rivers’ comment received immediate pushback from ex-NFLers in McAfee and JJ Watt, creating an exhausting week-long news cycle about a hypothetical that was equally as absurd as it was unanswerable.
But despite the nonsensical nature of the debate, at least Rivers had the decency of waiting until May to give his take. Perhaps Compton was attempting to deploy a similar strategy in hopes of going viral or (more likely) he merely saw a highlight reel of DK Metcalf dominating a pickup game and decided that it was time to declare athletic supremacy on behalf of his fellow NFL players. In any event, if he wanted to maximize the attention his post received, he would have been better served waiting another two months, when we’ve already seen that such debates can truly take off.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.