Randy Moss is one of the greatest wide receivers of all time, but he was also a standout basketball player. He played basketball at DuPont High School in Belle, West Virginia, ironically teaming up with former NBA standout Jason Williams. The best athletes often excel in multiple sports, with their athleticism and certain skills translating to any game. Moss was clearly no different.
But the Pro Football Hall of Fame learned that there are levels to competitiveness in basketball. Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett showed him that at a Nike Basketball camp during his high school years.
He spoke about the moment on the Travis and Jason Kelce-led New Heights podcast.
“I’m on the court. Kevin Garnett’s out there playing. So me and him get into a one on one match. I asked Kevin if he remembered this? And he kind of looked at me, I was like, ‘Well Kevin, I got a great memory, I remember this.’ So using my speed in basketball, I tried getting to the rim and tried to lay it up as high as I possibly could over the white box. Okay? Kevin Garnett gets up on the basketball Jason, and pins my ball with the palm of his hand.”
The ease with which it took Garnett to beat Moss had him second-guessing basketball as a sport to pursue professionally.
“So now when I get back home, they said, ‘Hey man, you went to Nike camp. Moss, how did it go?’ I said, ‘Football player, that’s what I’m going to be.’ That’s really a true story. I mean, I’m putting a little bit of humor into it. But at the same time, that is a true story that happened to me, that really changed my mind of playing basketball. It was like, dude, I don’t really think I can compete with those guys, so let me stick to football.”
Ironically enough, Moss and Garnett ended up becoming Minnesota legends at the same time in their career. Garnett was drafted by the Timberwolves in 1995 and played for the team until he was traded to the Boston Celtics in the Summer of 2007. Meanwhile, Moss was drafted by the Vikings in 1998 and stayed with the team until 2004.
