The Dallas Mavericks drew first blood in their best-of-seven conference finals last night with a tight victory (108-105) against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The last time the Mavs won the NBA was way back in 2011. However, this year, there seems to be an air of inevitability around the Mavs and their championship prospects. Last night’s victory has only excited their fans more, including die-hard supporter Patrick Mahomes who is backing them for a win.
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Speaking to the folks at First Things First, Mahomes backed his team to emerge victorious in the best of seven against the Timberwolves. For starters, the Chiefs QB expressed his faith in the ominous form that Anthony Davis is in.
Despite acknowledging the stellar defense of Minnesota, Mahomes backed the likes of Kyrie Irving and star forward Luka Doncic to come clutch and win it for his team. All Mahomes wants from the duo is to play to their potential to ensure a Mavs win. Mahomes expressed his confidence:
“It’s going to be a great series, this series right here because Anthony Edwards has been dominant. That team is great team, played great defense and it’s going to be a hard series but I think the Mavs have what it takes. Kyrie’s been playing great ball, Derrick Jones Jr’s been playing great defense, PJ Washington playing defense and offense… the athleticism that they kind of brought in and I think if Luca plays the way that Luca can play and Kyrie plays like Kyrie, they got as good a chance as anybody of winning.”
Mahomes might just be right. As mentioned by the three-time Super Bowl winner, if the duo of Kyrie and Luca come to the party, they will be a handful for the other three teams considering how well Derrick Jones Jr. and PJ Washington have been in defense.
Hearing Mahomes’ passionate analysis made the hosts of the show ask if the QB could still make it in the NBA. In reply, Mahomes obviously said no, but he shared a surprising trivia about his childhood NBA aspirations.
Why Did Patrick Mahomes Give Up His NBA Aspirations?
Growing up, Patrick Mahomes was inspired by his father who was an excellent basketball player. Moreover, in his sophomore year, he was 6’2″ giving him the confidence to pursue the game. But unfortunately, things took a bad turn when Mahomes realized that his growth spurt ended in his sophomore year.
His height never grew and neither did his aspirations to make it in the NBA. Hence, he quit playing as a point guard and instead made up his mind to choose one between baseball and football. The rest, as they say, is history.
“No, I don’t think I can play in the NBA now… I’m the smallest one in my family so I played point guard. I could shoot, I could pass um and my dad was a really good basketball player. I thought that was going to be my dream and but once I stopped growing, I knew I had to probably focus on baseball or football and I ended up choosing football in the end and it worked out pretty all right.”
Mahomes’ NBA aspirations story is similar to Tom Brady being drafted by MLB in his early days. It’s truly fascinating to imagine where American football have been if the duo decided to channel their immense perseverance ability in basketball and baseball respectively. Everything does happen for a reason!
