It’s common for an athlete to be good at more than one sport.
Former Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Kyler Murray was offered a deal from both the MLB and NFL and decided to become the Arizona Cardinal’s next starting quarterback. Former NFL tight end Tony Gonzalez was a University of California football and basketball star. Back in high school, Allen Iverson was the AP High School Player of the Year in both basketball and football. Former NBA player Charlie Ward won the Heisman while playing quarterback at Florida State University, holds several FSU basketball records including the most steals (236) and was drafted by MLB teams despite never playing baseball in college.
Boston College’s Kyran “Ky” Bowman is in the same boat. Back at Havelock High School in North Carolina, Bowman was a three star recruit as a wide receiver and a basketball star. He received three offers to play football and committed to North Carolina his sophomore year. He only received one offer for basketball.
During his senior year, he decommited from UNC.
“A lot of people knew basketball was my passion,” Bowman tells me at the NBA Combine in Chicago, “me liking football was just something I did, me loving basketball was where my heart was.”
He promised himself he would pursue basketball even after receiving an offer to play for Alabama’s football team shortly after his decommittment to UNC.
Then one day, he got a call from NBA star John Wall.
“He called me for a workout and told me to leave my schedule open.”
Wall sponsors a AAU team called Team Wall that is based in Raleigh North Carolina. Bowman went up against highly ranked players and made a big impression.That is when schools realized how talented he was in basketball too.
“As time went on, I was able to get offers to come – more of a known player in basketball and not football.”
Boston College’s head coach Jim Christian made the best punch out of the other schools who were singing the same song. “When coach came down to talk to me, he was actually honest with me, instead of just telling me what I wanted to hear. All of the other coaches were just telling me stuff that I wanted to hear,” Bowman said
“Me taking a risk on myself to come out here and play and do something I love,” Bowman said when it comes to the career change.
In his last season at Boston College, Bowman averaged 19 points per game, 7.5 rebounds, 4 assists shooting at 40%. The 21-year old feels the hardest thing when it comes to playing in the NBA is playing point guard as rookie.
“The hardest thing is the point guard spot. Being able to control the team, knowing that a lot of guys are older than you. Being able to earn their respect from them, to listen be the hardest part. Also getting the belief from the coach. It’s a thing you got to work on day in and day out so that’s going to be big for me.”
Bowman said he had two meetings set on Friday with the Miami Heat and the Golden State Warriors. Per reports, Bowman is expected to be an early to mid second round pick. He’s also in contact with Wall who can give him some tip on a professional level.
Watch the interview on the next page and John Wall’s AAU team.