Isaiah Vazquez/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images
In a way, a small forward is the basketball equivalent of a tight end. The player has to be big enough to defend and score in the paint while simultaneously being athletic to guard the perimeter and move without the basketball to get open shooting looks.
Meanwhile, a tight end is a hybrid position that requires someone who can block and catch.
So, why not have the best TE in the NFL take the three spot in the starting five?
Travis Kelce is listed at 6’5″ and 250 pounds and has good movement skills to get open as a receiver. That’s a big reason why he ranks fourth in league history at the position with 11,328 career receiving yards. So, he has a skill set that can translate to the hardwood.
It also helps that Kelce already has a connection with the team’s point guard, Patrick Mahomes. Those two have great chemistry together which should lead to some highlight reel alley-oops.
Additionally, the Ohio native was a three-sport athlete in high school and originally intended playing basketball as well as football at the University of Cincinnati, according to The Athletic. Three years ago, he told the All The Smoke Podcast that he thought his future was going to be as a hooper.
“Cleveland Heights was a basketball school,” Kelce said about his high school. “I played everything growing up—football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer—and I loved them all when I was playing them, but basketball was probably most natural to me.
“I wasn’t the best student, so for a long time I thought my only way to college was going to be basketball.”
