Only a handful of athletes in history have ever been good enough to even flirt with careers in both the NFL and the NBA. However, one legendary football player came close to doing that. It wasn’t exactly because he wanted to switch to basketball, but rather because he was forced to consider it after failed contract talks, which eventually turned out in his favor.
That NFL Legend was Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez, and as he tells it, the only way to break the contract deadlock was to convince his NFL team he had another pro sport option waiting for him.
Tony Gonzalez Once Threatened to Leave the NFL for NBA During Contract Negotiations
The story came out during Gonzalez’s recent appearance on the Get Got Pod with Marshawn Lynch and Mike Robinson, when the legendary tight-end was asked if he considered going pro in multiple sports.
The Hall of Famer said he turned to basketball after his NFL team refused to meet his contract demands. While he didn’t take the team’s name, it was obviously the Kansas City Chiefs who drafted him No. 13 overall in 1997 and for whom he continued playing until 2008.
“That same year that my contract was up, they didn’t want to pay me,” Gonzalez said.
“So I went there and I said, ‘All right, well, if you guys don’t want to pay me, then I’m going to go try and play in the NBA.'”
The threat wasn’t exactly a bluff. Apart from football, Gonzalez also played basketball at Cal, shooting over 50% across three seasons while averaging 6.4 points and 4.3 rebounds.
The NFL legend went to Miami’s Summer League tryouts and was good enough to earn a roster spot. “There were like 22, 23 guys, and they kept 12 of us. I made the team,” Gonzalez said.
He added that nine-time NBA champion Pat Riley was the one overseeing the group before Stan Van Gundy later took over, and current Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was an assistant at the time.
“I had 11 rebounds. I was one-for-seven, though,” Gonzalez said, noting he wasn’t a great shooter but could rebound like Dennis Rodman.
And even financially, he felt jumping into basketball wasn’t as crazy as it sounds. At a time when tight ends weren’t paid anywhere close to modern salaries, Gonzalez believed there wouldn’t have been a big difference: “I’d probably make the same amount of money coming off the bench as I would playing tight end for what they wanted to pay me.”
Later, Gonzalez sprained his ankle during a Summer League game but told the coaches he was fine to return. However, Stan Van Gundy wouldn’t put him back in.
That didn’t make sense since he was performing well. So he decided to confront the coaches: “What’s going on? Like I’m playing I’m getting rebounds. I’m playing get my guy. Nobody’s scoring on.”
On the podcast, hosts Lynch and Robinson joked that the Heat might have been told to pull back by the NFL team who were worried about losing him.
Soon after, Gonzalez got exactly what he wanted: “I signed my deal. They paid me more money.” The 14-time Pro Bowler initially signed a five-year $6.075 million contract in 1997 with the Chiefs, and in September 2002, it bumped to a five-year $21.5 million payday.
However, the Chiefs allegedly also made sure he couldn’t try a similar stunt again. His new contract included a clause that shut the door on other pro sports: “You can’t play any organized pro league other than football.”
With that, Gonzalez’s future was officially locked into the NFL, and it turned out to be the best thing for his Hall of Fame career. He retired as one of the most productive tight ends in NFL history, finishing with 1,325 receptions, 15,127 yards, and 111 touchdowns across 270 games.