NIL is opening up a whole new world of hypotheticals in college athletics.

Earlier this week, LeBron James tweeted to ask if he would be eligible to play a college sport besides basketball. His query was answered by Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith.

“If you never enrolled full-time in college and didn’t compete in the sport that you want to play after HS graduation, you could have eligibility remaining,” Smith answered, also on Twitter. “If you professionalize in one sport, you can still be considered an amateur in another. Would love to help you!”

Given that the 37-year-old James went straight from high school to the NBA, he would satisfy the eligibility requirements laid out by Smith.

James likely knew the answer to this question before asking it — his former Cavaliers teammate, J.R. Smith, plays golf at the HBCU North Carolina A&T University, a fact James was presumably aware of given his proximity to the subject and the fact that it’s gotten a lot of publicity — so now we are left to wonder if James was asking this out loud in order to plant a seed that can blossom after his professional basketball career concludes.

James is entering his 20th season in the NBA and he turns 38 years old in December.

One would imagine that football would be out of the question given the physical toll it takes on bodies, but there are a number of other sports in which James could plausibly compete with Division I athletes if that was what he focused his athletic talents and energy on, even into his 40s.

James has a lot of time and money tied up in business and entertainment, so it remains to be seen if this is an avenue he’ll pursue, but perhaps we should start thinking about it as a plausible option for whenever he’s done with the NBA.

His sons Bronny, 17, and Bryce, 15, will likely be heading to college in the near future, with the eldest James already holding basketball scholarship offers from Memphis, Ohio State and USC. Maybe LeBron wants to tag along for the college experience he missed out on.