Even with Chiefs quarterback prodigy Patrick Mahomes having been an NFL starter for just two full seasons, it's already tempting to speculate he's on his way to becoming the sort of transcendent figure in the game that Michael Jordan was in his.
At least that's a trajectory semi-suggested by Mahomes seizing an NFL MVP award his first complete season, spurring the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl triumph in 50 years last season and doing it all in an exhilarating and often incomparable style.
Now, in some ways, it's absurdly premature to even bring up a potential- sliver-of-a-possible-maybe-comparison.
In other ways, well, just watch him play.
Only time will tell, of course, where Mahomes goes from here and whether his ultimate legacy in the game becomes similar to Jordan's in the NBA.
But the recent announcement of his buy-in to the Royals' ownership group led by John Sherman hints at another potential way the 500 Million Dollar Man could be on a path to a Jordan-like presence in the world of sports.
Jordan, after all, is the only Black majority owner of any team among the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL or MLS franchises and a rarity anywhere _ including Kansas City.
From the minute the announcement of Mahomes' engagement with the Royals was delivered, it was easy to picture the ambitious, smart and rather well financially equipped Mahomes moving toward that yet more rarefied air in the future.
All the more so considering his inclination to attend all sorts of sporting events all over the country when time, and world health, allows.
So someone who has changed the status quo in football, particularly for the Chiefs, might one day help change the status quo in MLB, or NFL, front offices. For that matter, he loves basketball, soccer and hockey, too.
The bold move at this stage of his life certainly implies an interest in expanding on that and exploring it further when appropriate.
Never mind that Mahomes downplayed any such notion Sunday in his first session with the media since the announcement of his involvement with the Royals. In response to a question from Yahoo's Terez Paylor during a Zoom media call, Mahomes said he didn't know if he'd "thought about fully owning a team or whatever aspect that is."
"But," he added, "I'm obviously very interested in all sports and being a part of sports even when, hopefully a long time from now, my (playing) days are over."
Let's hope for everyone concerned that any such prospect is many years, Super Bowls and MVP awards for the Magic Unicorn away.
For now, it's enticing enough that joining up with the Royals further tethers Mahomes to Kansas City, where that 10-year contract extension figures to keep him until 2031, anyway.
But only playing football and not baseball, Chiefs coach Andy Reid playfully reminded, saying that being part-owner in one sport and playing the other should allow him what he wants with "his two loves."
Embracing his love of baseball is the only statement the not-yet-25-year-old Mahomes is ready to make publicly about what his Royals' investment means in the long term.
"I grew up in clubhouses, and I love everything about it," said Mahomes, whose father, Pat, pitched 11 years in the major leagues. "And whenever the Royals got bought last year by the Shermans, I wanted to be a part of it. It took a little bit of time, I mean those things take time, so it took almost a year to get the language right and to get the timing right with everything going on in the world, obviously."
Speaking of which, right here, right now in the world is precisely where Mahomes needs to be. And is.
During a week that normally would mark the start of preseason games and instead will be notable for the first full practices in pads starting Aug. 14.
With the Chiefs' season opener scheduled for a month from Monday on Sept. 10 against visiting Houston.
And with the COVID-19 coronavirus looming over everything.
As if Mahomes doesn't do enough to inspire on the field and with his love of Kansas City and by his very example, he offered some perspective with real-world applications when asked about how different it is to prepare for the season in 2020.
Obviously, words only go so far for those who have suffered from the virus, and their loved ones, those who have lost jobs and are reeling. But he made points that might resonate with those trying to navigate the daily mental health battle.
"First off, I think the biggest thing you have to do with all of 2020 is just try to make sure you accept every challenge of the next day," he said. "Every morning you wake up, knowing you're going to have to go in with an open mind prepared for whatever comes your way. ... That's kind of how an athlete has to prepare for every single day, every practice, every meeting, whatever it is, and so I'm going to do that, continue to do that.
"Every single day I wake up, it's a blank slate. I'm going to go out there, attack it, be the best person, athlete or whatever it is that day. And hopefully we keep going good as far as a football facility and as a nation we try to progress and get to the other side of this."
When it comes to the sheer psychology of handling this complicated time, maybe now more than ever we can all make our own use of his mantra to "take advantage of every single rep" in practice and his approach to the never-ending feel of the pandemic.
In the trial, he'll suggest, also is the opportunity.
Going up against disorienting changes in routine, he said, "is a good challenge to have. Dealing with adversity early in the season, early in the offseason, trying to accept that and trying to come out better on the other side. ...
"I'm excited for the challenge to try to go out there and show the world that we can do this the right way if we do it the safe way," he said.
Among other things he's excited to show the world, on fields of play for the foreseeable future ... and perhaps presiding over them later.
