Austin Rivers breaks down why NBA athletes reign supreme over NFL players: "We set the culture"

NBA free agent Austin Rivers has made a clear statement on the difference between NBA and NFL players. The former LA Clippers guard has a strong belief that hoopers are on another level compared to football players, and it's not even close.

On the Pat McAfee Show, Rivers made his thoughts clear that his fellow NBA players are the 'best athletes in the world.'

"There's a reason why Hip Hop artists, when they rap, they compare themselves to ballers. They're not talking about footballers. They're talking about basketball players," Rivers said.

"There's a reason why all the girls that we didn't get down with, the NFL players usually end up dating them later. They come to us first, bro. We set the culture."

While McAfee and the rest of the crew laughed, Rivers didn't hesitate and let them know that when it comes to athletes, one league has the biggest impact. This debate has been around for years, especially with players from each league claiming that they could change sports and still play at a solid level.

When it comes to women, rappers and pop culture, though, Rivers believes the association has the edge over the NFL.

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Several NBA players have claimed that they could play in the NFL

As elite athletes, NBA players have a gifted physique. Some of them think they could take their talents to different sports and dominate, especially in the NFL.

For example, LeBron James revealed that he used to play at tight end during his high school days. The King even revealed that he trained to play for the Dallas Cowboys in 2011.

"I had no idea how long the lockout was going to be, and myself and my trainer ... we really started to actually train to be a football player," James said in 2020, via David Helman.

"We started to clock our time in the 40. We started to add a little bit more to our bench presses and things of that nature."

More recently, Anthony Edwards showed a desire to become the first athlete to play in both the NBA and the NFL in 2023. "Ant" has always boasted huge confidence in himself, and some even believe he could make it as an NFL player.

NFL players like Myles Garrett, C.J. Stroud and Micah Parsons have shown that they're more than capable of playing basketball at a high level. These two group of athletes are extremely competitive and don't hesitate to test themselves in different sports.

Either way, fans from each sport will have a clear opinion, but Austin Rivers has a strong one, and he's not changing his mind anytime soon.