Mitch Trubisky Has a Sports Idol and He Never Even Played Football

Every great athlete has another great athlete he looks up to. Somebody who showed him the kind of player he wants to be as a professional. Tom Brady idolized Joe Montana growing up in California. Top overall draft pick Baker Mayfield modeled himself after Brett Favre. It's the same for everybody. Well, almost everybody. Mitch Trubisky is proving to be somewhat unique. He admitted before the NFL draft back in 2017 that his favorite player was Walter Payton. The Chicago Bears icon was the first player Trubisky read about in a book and he was soon hooked on football. However, contrary to popular myth Payton is not the player that the young quarterback ended up modeling himself after. That revelation took a little more time to develop. Trubisky took cues from other great quarterbacks to help broaden his game, but nobody had yet emerged to him as an athlete both on and off the field that he truly wanted to emulate. In end, it seems he never found that person in the game of football. He had to jump to an entirely different sport.

Mitch Trubisky hopes to model himself after NBA legend Tim Duncan

While working his way up the NFL ladder, Trubisky struck up a friendship with author Sam Walker. The QB is a big fan of his books, most of which try to identify what it takes to be a great leader in professional sports. According to Tyler Dunn of Bleacher Report, the man that Trubisky has gravitated to the most isn't even a football player, but a basketball legend.

"The two communicate regularly. It's not uncommon for Walker to, say, send Trubisky video clips of Tim Duncan interacting with teammates... ...Trubisky loves how demanding yet compassionate Duncan was on those Spurs teams. He approached teammates right when something went wrong with two hands on their shoulders. His face one foot away from their faces. Eyes locked onto their eyes for three...four...five seconds that felt like hours. And the problem was fixed. Since Duncan never went ballistic, such a serious gaze packed a serious punch. Trubisky wants to operate as Duncan did."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-STgy2pCxxs Duncan is among the most decorated and successful NBA players in history. Not only was he a five-time champion, but also a 15-time All-Star, three-time Finals MVP, two-time league MVP and eight-time member of the All-NBA defensive team. Most felt that nobody played the game the right way more than Duncan. Totally unselfish. All he wanted to do was win while striving to make himself and his teammates better. Trubisky certainly has good taste. Duncan was the premier ambassador for the NBA for a decade and a half. He never got in trouble off the court, did great charity work and sacrificed for the good of the team when it became clear his own game was slipping with age. He's a hero in San Antonio. It's little wonder the Bears quarterback wants to emulate that. For all the love and admiration LeBron James gets, Duncan is more respected and a greater winner. If Trubisky is able to channel the lessons the retired legend taught in terms of leadership into the Bears locker room, great things could be on the horizon for this team.