Orlando Magic point guard Anthony Black, who they selected with the No. 6 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, stands tall at a listed 6-foot-7 and 198 pounds. At that size, with his skillset as a bouncy playmaker, he's bound to be a constant mismatch at his position.

As a team with plenty of length, that's undoubtedly one of the reasons the Magic were drawn to Black, a player several inches taller than Magic guards Markelle Fultz and Cole Anthony.

Yet, like last year's lottery pick, Black also comes with a football past and a phenomenal reputation.

Black played receiver at Coppell High School in Texas, landing “more than a dozen offers in football despite most coaches knowing he probably would play basketball,” according to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic. Texas, who landed highly touted quarterback Arch Manning in 2022, Baylor and Arkansas “were among the football programs” sold on Black.

UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, who was the Longhorns receivers coach until January, says “Dude would have been a (matchup) nightmare.”

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At the end of the day, “I just thought, ‘Man, there’s no way this kid is not gonna be playing basketball,’” he concedes. “He was this 6-5 point guard who could do everything and was dunking on people. But he’d say he wanted to play football. I was like, ‘Yeah, you might want to play football, but you’re gonna end up in basketball.’”

“I knew that kid was really special…,” Marion says. “You don’t see guys that tall like that running routes like he could, and he was actually physical… He could’ve been a complete receiver. He was just so smooth and he was violent. I knew he’d be elite in whatever he chose.”