Ohio State's Ryan Day Has Hilarious Scholarship, NIL Offer to LeBron James

LeBron James received a hilarious scholarship and NIL offer from the Ohio State Buckeyes and Ryan Day.
Dec 25, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) before the game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center.
Dec 25, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) before the game against the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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LeBron James has put together arguably the best NBA career of all-time. However, there are still questions about how good he would have been as a football player. Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day would love to find out.

Even at 40 years old, James would probably have a good chance to be a high-impact player.

During his appearance with Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show," Day hilariously replied to LeBron's joke about playing college football. He spoke out about what his approach would be if James was serious.

“LeBron is a great supporter," Day said. "With that said, he’d have to start with the freshman in the back of the room and work his way up. He doesn’t get any special treatment.”

LeBron responded to the clip and quote from Day and appreciated what he heard about having to earn his stripes.

"I don’t mind it one bit Coach Day! Earned Not Given!" James posted on X.

In response to James' response, Day made it clear that he has a scholarship offer and NIL deal ready to go for LeBron.

"Just to be clear, we have a scholarship and great NIL deal for you though," Day responded.

Obviously, this is all in good fun. LeBron is not going to be stepping away from the NBA to play college football. That being said, it's fun to think about and it would be very interesting to see how James could perform at the college level.

This has a 0.01% chance of happening. But, where the joking starts, a thought process can form.

All of that being said, it's good to see Day and James joking back and forth. LeBron was a star football player in high school and likely would have had a good chance of going and finding success. No one will ever know.

Day likely would offer James if "The King" showed interest in playing college football. Unfortunately, we're almost guaranteed to never see what would happen.


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Evan Massey
EVAN MASSEY

Evan Massey is a sports reporter and analyst who covers college football, the NFL and NBA. He has contributed to the On SI network since July 2021. He has also written for ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Forbes, Bleacher Report, NFLAnalysis.net, NBAAnalysis.net and many other publications. In his free time, Evan enjoys spending time with his wife and son.