I Love This Game: Basketball Stars Who Fish

After extolling the virtues of being short yesterday, I figured it was only fair to celebrate the unusually tall percentage of people who love to fish – and there’s no group of people who are near-uniformly as exceptionally lofty as professional players. We previously profiled ardent Alaska traveler and Hall of Famer Rick Barry. Depending on who you talk to, he’s somewhere in the top 50 of all time. Another member of that super-exclusive club, Michael Jordan – arguably the GOAT, and certainly in the top five or ten – has made waves in recent years when his 80’ Viking named “Catch 23” has shown up at various billfish tournaments. 

Fellow Hall of Famer Bobby Knight was also an ardent outdoorsman and a close friend of late B.A.S.S. owner Jerry McKinnis. 

They’re not the only ones. It turns out plenty of other basketball stars love to chase various species. Jared Jeffries, who played for five NBA teams over the course of more than a decade, hosted a show called “Modern Fishing with Jared Jeffries” on the Outdoor Channel.

During the COVID bubble season, players “stuck” in Florida made good use of their down time by making good angling use of the fertile Disney waters.

To his credit, in 2018 Paul George – now an eight-time All-Star on the court -- donated $4,200 to the Oklahoma Fishing in the Schools (OKFITS) Program. More recently, he paid for a fishing dock at an Oklahoma City Lake. 

Here are links to some other former, current and notable basketball players’ fishing adventures, passions and stories:

• NBA Players Turn To Fishing As A Way To Wind Down And Escape The Spotlight

• Secrets of the NBA’s Bass-Fishing All-Stars

• How the NBA's Lance Thomas Found Passion and Purpose in Fishing

• Luka Doncic is an avid fisherman

• Hoops star Laettner is hooked on muskies

• "Are we sure he didn’t hurt his back?": Ben Simmons cannot catch a break as fans troll him after he catches a 90-pound fish

• ‘It’s OK to be different’: Spurs forward Keldon Johnson feels at home outdoors

• Fishin' in the dark: Willis' path to Tulsa molded by early adversity and fishing

• Luke Loewe's transfer to Gophers means more bass and buckets for the avid fisherman

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And, for your musical enjoyment, we have probable non-angler Kurtis Blow, who called fishing “easy” in Takin’ Care of Business: