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Right now I have to say it's Jaylen Brown:

- went to an academic university and excelled
- made the varsity chess team in Cal (chess is a sign of intelligence)
- taught himself Spanish and Arabic
- youngest VP of the Player's Union
- MIT media Lab Fellow (not sure what that is but it sounds smart)
- lectured at Harvard
- offered a NASA internship
- teaches a robotic session at MIT
- plays piano and guitar

I can't think of anyone to match that. Maybe Battier.

Teaching yourself Arabic is nuts. I studied Latin, Greek, French and German.

Did one class of beginner Arabic and my head was spinning.

Kevin Willis wrote:Right now I have to say it's Jaylen Brown:

- went to an academic university and excelled
- made the varsity chess team in Cal (chess is a sign of intelligence)
- taught himself Spanish and Arabic
- youngest VP of the Player's Union
- MIT media Lab Fellow (not sure what that is but it sounds smart)
- lectured at Harvard
- offered a NASA internship
- teaches a robotic session at MIT
- plays piano and guitar

I can't think of anyone to match that. Maybe Battier.

I was going to say Battier but there are probably some others that were more impressive. There have been a number of players that have made it from the Ivy League. For example Jeremy Lin went to Harvard so he probably has Battier beat.

Another contender is Geoff Petrie who went to Princeton, was a really great ball player (considered a really high IQ player) and went on to be president of the Sacramento Kings. He won executive of the year twice running the Kings in their peak era.

Easy one for me ! Rick Fox !

Mediocre player who has won championships and bagged the hottest women of his time

Rudy Gobert
Tobias Harris

In all seriousness I heard Sean Battier was really smart on and off the court.

Landry Fields went to a top school.

Is Brown fluent in those languages? Pretty impressive.

Its one thing to teach yourself but a whole another level if you can speak it.

Kim Kardashian lectured at Harvard. I would strike some of the stuff that seems like it's just a school or organization capitalizing on a professional athlete's celebrity status. Did Brown graduate?

I think Festus Ezili graduated high school at 14 or something. He's probably the smartest of the last several decades. Brown would be up there, too, if he graduated, with Lin and Malcolm Brogdan.

Duffman100 wrote:Teaching yourself Arabic is nuts. I studied Latin, Greek, French and German.

Did one class of beginner Arabic and my head was spinning.

I believe he learned Arabic in order to be able to read (& understand) the Quran - having converted to Islam in 2021.

Bill Bradley by far. Princeton, went to Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship for 2 years before beginning his Knicks career. Played 10 years, 2 titles, using his BB IQ to make up for lack of physical gifts. Retired and became US Senator right away for NJ where he served 20 years. Ran for the Democrat nomination in 2000, should have been president. Author of several books, brilliant man.

His areas of intellect are different from Brown's MIT science/tech smarts though, I don't know how to quantify those things relatively

Johntay Porter runs a crypto and gambling discord. You have to be really smart to do that.

WaltFrazier wrote:Bill Bradley by far. Princeton, went to Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship for 2 years before beginning his Knicks career. Played 10 years, 2 titles, using his BB IQ to make up for lack of physical gifts. Retired and became US Senator right away for NJ where he served 20 years. Ran for the Democrat nomination in 2000, should have been president. Author of several books, brilliant man.

His areas of intellect are different from Brown's MIT science/tech smarts though, I don't know how to quantify those things relatively

Was just about to write about him... yes, by far my choice.. for the reasons you mentioned...

Precious Achiuwa

WaltFrazier wrote:Bill Bradley by far. Princeton, went to Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship for 2 years before beginning his Knicks career. Played 10 years, 2 titles, using his BB IQ to make up for lack of physical gifts. Retired and became US Senator right away for NJ where he served 20 years. Ran for the Democrat nomination in 2000, should have been president. Author of several books, brilliant man.

His areas of intellect are different from Brown's MIT science/tech smarts though, I don't know how to quantify those things relatively

Wow, blind spot in my NBA and political history knowledge. And I was old enough in 2000 to follow that election, but not the primaries clearly.

Good call about Jaylen Brown. Definitely one of the smartest guys around. IIRC he learned Arabic when he became Muslim. And he even fasts for Ramadan.


Sporting News did an article a while back on smartest athletes. It included Shane Battier and Grant Hill.

Link here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130523023358/http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/feed/2010-09/smart-athletes/story/sporting-news-names-the-20-smartest-athletes-in-sports

Duffman100 wrote:Teaching yourself Arabic is nuts. I studied Latin, Greek, French and German.

Did one class of beginner Arabic and my head was spinning.

Yeah I’m half Yemeni and still have trouble reading and writing in Arabic.
Good on JB.

Chris Bosh is another player whose smarts are hidden.

ontnut wrote:Johntay Porter runs a crypto and gambling discord. You have to be really smart to do that.

Also sounds very smart in interviews.

That guy is going places

Jaylen Brown seems like a genius goddamn.

Former Raptor Jeremy Lin.

There's only been about 5,000 players to have played an NBA game. Surprisingly low. But something to consider to keep things in context.

JR Smith