Hornets' Dennis Smith Jr. Trained for NFL Career Before Signing with Charlotte

Dennis Smith Jr. signed a one-year, $2.1 million deal with the Charlotte Hornets in September, but not before kicking around the idea of transitioning to football.

"I told my previous agent, 'I'm not going overseas. If s--t don't work out, I'm just going to the NFL,'" he told Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. "And I was dead-ass serious. I put on hella weight. I was gonna try."

Smith said he played football in high school and would have played collegiately if he wasn't one of the top basketball recruits in the nation. He planned to play as a defensive back in the NFL once he began considering a change in sports.

"I was going to get there, though, I swear to god I would," he said.

Smith, 24, has struggled to find a foothold in the NBA after the Dallas Mavericks selected him ninth overall in the 2017 draft. He's averaged 10.8 points and 4.3 assists per game in his six-year career but has bounced around the league, playing for the Mavs, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers and now the Hornets.

He has played well in Charlotte, however, posting 13.3 points and 4.7 assists in 25.7 minutes per game while shooting 56.7 percent from the field in three contests.

"Some guys figure it out late, some guys figure it out right away," Hornets head coach Steve Clifford told Bondy. "He's a talented guy. Even though with the injuries he's not the athlete he was, he's still a really good athlete, even for this league. I don't see that he's doing anything that he can't continue to do, frankly."

Getting quality minutes from Smith has been huge for the Hornets, with LaMelo Ball recovering from a sprained left ankle. He's more than earned himself a regular spot in the rotation, even when the 2-1 Hornets get healthier.

The NFL is officially on the back-burner, in other words.