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00:00I'm Jill Painter-Lopez for Sports Illustrated, here with Melissa Rowland.
00:09And Melissa, the NFL Draft is here.
00:11It's such an exciting thing to watch that first round, and I know LeBron James and so
00:16many Lakers players and NBA players are watching, as well as is probably much of the rest of
00:21the world.
00:22Now, LeBron James tweeted a congratulations to Jeff Okuda, who played at Ohio State.
00:27We know LeBron, big Ohio State fan.
00:29What was that message like for Okuda?
00:32He said that any team would have been very lucky to have him.
00:35He called him a great young man.
00:37The Detroit Lions selected him with the third overall pick in the NFL Draft.
00:42It's interesting because LeBron could have gone two ways.
00:45He could have been the NBA superstar we all know, or he probably would have been a superstar
00:49in the NFL.
00:50He was a phenomenal high school football player, and he had to make a choice.
00:54He picked basketball.
00:55He recently, in an Instagram post, wrote that he made the right choice.
00:59Obviously, he became a three-time NBA champion, four-time MVP, and one of the greatest basketball
01:04players of all time, but it's interesting to think about how successful he also could
01:08have been in the NFL.
01:10Absolutely, but we certainly have to make a case for longevity in the NBA, be able to
01:15play a lot longer probably than football, but certainly interesting to ponder.