One of the few sports that America does not excel in is handball. The United States handball team hasn’t qualified for the Olympics since 1996 and failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympic qualifying tournament.
But what if you threw LeBron James and a few other superstar NBA players on the team? According to the rest of handball world, it would be a wrap for the competition.
The Washington Post‘s Adam Kilgore asked prominent members of the sport’s community just how good LeBron would be:
At many levels, it makes no sense. America has the right kind of athletes with the right kind of sports backgrounds. True, they have no incentives to play handball, but disregard that for a moment: Really, how long would it take LeBron James to become the best handball player in the world?
“Maybe six months,” U.S. national team Coach Javier Garcia-Cuesta said. “This is just a hypothetical. He has everything. When you see him playing, your mouth drops.”
Kilgore also spoke to Denmark’s Mikkel Hansen, who is considered the best player in the world:
“It’s difficult to talk about that,” Hansen said, laughing. “I admire LeBron James very much. I’m a big basketball fan. The way he sees the court, his vision for the game, is very impressive. There you would have a good start. And physically, he is amazing. But you also need to throw the ball. So, yeah. Maybe.”
Finally, Team USA member and All-Star guard Kyle Lowry summed it up perfectly:
“You’re talking about another sport with running and jumping, changing direction and throwing a ball into a net?” U.S. men’s basketball team guard Kyle Lowry said. “Yeah, I think we could figure it out. How much do they make?”
