LeBron trained to be a football player during 2011 NBA lockout

LeBron James is a basketball star with a football player's build, and he once considered moving from the hardwood to the gridiron.

James revealed Monday that during the 2011 NBA lockout, he began incorporating football workouts into his training.

"I had no idea how long the lockout was going to be, and myself and my trainer, we really started to actually train to be a football player, when it came to October and November," James said on his Uninterrupted site. "We started to clock our time with the 40s, we started to add a little bit more in our bench presses."

The lockout, which began in July 2011, ended in December. James went on to win the first championship of his career that season with the Miami Heat.

Before the lockout-shortened campaign began, James' trainer tried to convince him of an alternate universe in which he joined the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. It appears the idea nearly came to fruition.

"I know that he got a contract from (Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones that he framed and put in his office," said James' business partner, Maverick Carter.