Magic point guard Elfrid Payton already has the hair to compete with Giants wideout Odell Beckham Jr. And now apparently, his football skills might not be all that far behind.
After an offseason workout on Tuesday, the 21-year-old hit the gridiron with Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers. The floor general counterparts lined up on opposite sides and took turns running routes against each other. There, Payton exposed CP3’s man-to-man coverage as a bit lagging behind his perimeter defense, en route to making a ridiculous one-handed, over-the-shoulder catch.
Paul tried his best to keep up. But even his foot speed wasn’t enough to compensate for the fact that at 6’0″, he’s a tad undersized to fit the billing of a shutdown cornerback.
As for Payton, he ran a nifty outside-in route and made an even niftier grab. While he may not have much of a flair for the deep ball on the hardwood (26.2 percent shooting on just 42 three-point attempts last season), Payton definitely does on the football field. At a respectable 6’4″, maybe he has a backup plan in case this whole NBA goes south and new Magic acquisition Shabazz Napier takes his job.
CP3 didn’t go out quietly though.
Shoutout to the NBA players for constantly finding new ways to keep us entertained during the seemingly interminable offseason.
H/T Bleacher Report
