Recently-retired Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Tony Romo, had a promising future in basketball, apparently. 

Caron Butler spent 14 seasons in the NBA, so he knows a thing or two about people having the ability to make it to the league. Butler told ESPN that Romo was quite the standout during his high school basketball days — so much so that Romo could’ve picked going to the NBA over the NFL and Butler wouldn’t think twice about the decision.

“Believe it or not, man, when we were in the prime of our careers, I used to always talk about it: [Romo] could have easily been a professional basketball player, and a lot of people were like, ‘Man, you’re crazy for saying that,’ but Tony could shoot. He could handle the ball. He had a knack for scoring, man, he really did.

“He was a really good football player, obviously, being a quarterback. He was great at golf. And he was really good at basketball. Obviously it worked out for him with the football, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if he would have made it playing basketball. He had a great feel for the game, man. And it’s not surprising. Golf is a cerebral game; you gotta have that mental component to conquer the course. And then football’s the same thing; you gotta be able to think on the fly and do all these things. And then basketball, I thought, all those components worked together.”

The numbers back up that claim and Romo did far more than letter in basketball. As a senior at Burlington High School. As a senior, he averaged 24.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists while being named to the All-Racine County team alongside Butler.

To honor the long-time Cowboys quarterback for all he did, Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks will make Romo a “Maverick for a day,” and the former All-Pro will participate in the team’s layup line and spend the season’s final game against the Denver Nuggets on the bench.

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