Khalen Saunders has spent most of his professional career trying to get past offensive linemen. On Saturday, the former New Orleans Saints defensive tackle was apparently trying to get past basketball defenders instead.
Saunders was among the players participating September 19 in an open tryout for the Laketown Squadron, the NBA G League affiliate of the New Orleans Pelicans. Video shared by the Squadron showed the 324-pound, two-time Super Bowl champion running the floor in a No. 34 jersey.
It sounds like a stunt. Saunders’ history says otherwise.
Khalen Saunders Has a Real Basketball Background
Saunders, 30, is an NFL defensive tackle by trade, but basketball has been part of his athletic résumé for years.
During Saunders’ time at Western Illinois, defensive line coach John Haneline recalled needing another player for a staff pickup game and bringing Saunders onto his team.
The result apparently looked nothing like basketball played by a 300-plus-pound lineman.
“The first three times we had the ball, he was playing point guard,” Haneline told Western Illinois Athletics in 2019. Haneline said Saunders was crossing defenders over, making difficult layups and hitting 3-pointers. He compared the big man’s movement to Kyrie Irving.
ESPN later chronicled the same pickup exploits and reported Saunders had earned the nickname “Fat Kyrie.” Saunders claimed he once crossed defenders badly enough to make them collide.
So, yes. There is precedent here.
Saints fans have already seen what Saunders’ movement looks like when a football lands in his hands. In 2024, he intercepted Patrick Mahomes in the end zone and returned the ball 37 yards against the Kansas City Chiefs. New Orleans listed Saunders at 6-foot, 324 pounds that season.
Basketball requires a few different skills. But the feet were never really the question.
Saunders Is Currently an NFL Free Agent
The timing also makes Saturday’s tryout more interesting.
Saunders is currently without an NFL team after the Tennessee Titans released him while setting their initial 53-man roster on August 30. Tennessee had signed him less than a month earlier, on August 2.
He spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons with New Orleans, appearing in 30 games and starting 27 before the Saints traded him to the Jacksonville Jaguars for offensive lineman Luke Fortner in August 2025.
Saunders later spent time with Jacksonville and the New York Jets before his brief stint with Tennessee.
Nothing about participating in Saturday’s event means he has abandoned football. It does, however, make for one of the stranger free-agent workouts of the year.
What the Laketown Squadron Tryout Means
The Squadron’s open tryout was designed to give local players an opportunity to perform in front of Laketown coaches and basketball operations staff.
There was no automatic roster spot waiting at the end.
According to the team, participants were competing for the chance to receive an invitation to training camp before Laketown’s inaugural 2026-27 G League season. The team charged participants a $300 registration fee.
Laketown opens its season November 8 against the Austin Spurs before playing its first home game November 14 against the Mexico City Capitanes.
Whether Saunders gets another look remains to be seen. The notable part is that he showed up at all, and, considering his history, apparently had enough game to justify doing it.
For a 324-pound defensive tackle known for backflips, goal-line snaps and a 37-yard NFL interception return, a basketball audition somehow fits.
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