Carolina Panthers’ DE Greg Hardy Says He’d Beat LeBron James 1-on-1

You often hear football players speculate that LeBron James could dominate in the NFL had he chosen to play there instead of the NBA. It’s very rare that a football player says he could challenge LBJ on the court. Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy seems to think he could. Per the Charlotte Observer: “I knew Hardy was once a basketball player at Ole Miss, and I knew he thought of himself as a pretty good one. I wanted to see how he thought he’d stack up against LeBron James, the reigning NBA MVP and considered by many to be the greatest active basketball player on the planet. Below is a transcription of our 2-minute conversation, while he was wearing a camo Miami Heat hat, no less. Q: If you went 1-on-1 with LeBron who would win? A: ‘How should I answer this question? … I would dominate that dude. Hands down, guaranteed win. And that’s my favorite player.’ Q: Why? A: ‘I’m a beast.’ Q: He’s pretty good too, though. A: ‘What’s your point? Everyone says he can go to the NFL and play defensive end, who says I cant go to the NBA?’ Q: I’m not saying you can’t. I’m asking, why do you feel so confident that you’d beast LeBron James in a game of 1-on-1? A: \I’m not saying I would beast him, but I would definitely win. I got a good shot, I got good handles, I got good size (6-foot-4, 275 pounds). I feel that we match up pretty well. I was a defensive player in college.’ Q: Doesn’t he have about four inches on you? (LeBron is 6-foot-8, 250 pounds.) A: ‘Maybe. I got like a 39-inch vertical. I’m a little bulkier too. But nobody knows I got hops.’ Q: Didn’t you dunk on an 11-foot goal this summer? (Editor’s note: It was a 10-foot-3 goal.) A: ‘I got drastic hops. I feel I have a lot of the same tools he has and it would come down to who was the better basketball player.’ Q: If y’all played to 11 by ones, who would win and what would be the score? A: ‘I would still win. Probably 11-9.’ Q: Oh, so it’d be a tight game? A: ‘Yeah, it would be a tight game. I’m not saying I would dominate him. That was a joke. I feel like I’d definitely win. I think there’s a game there. I don’t think that I’m trash and I don’t think that he’s trash. I think it’d be two dominant athletes playing and I’d come out on top.'”