The 37-year-old NBA star would love to get the chance to join the over-50s PGA Tour Champions in the future but he knows it won’t be easy.

He told Bunkered magazine: “It’s on the radar for sure.

“I say that with all due respect to the level of golfer that’s on the Champions Tour.

“I know it’s not going to be easy.

“Everyone’s like, ‘When you’re don’t playing, are you going to try to do Q School?’

“There’s no way I’m doing that because I know what it would require of me to make that jump.

“But if I can maintain a level of golf that, it’s crazy what you’re saying – 13 years away – but the idea that golf is a sport for life, if I can stay healthy, stay limber, go out there and qualify, use a Monday to qualify for a Champions Tour event, that would definitely be a lofty goal.

“But it’s something that I think I’m going to try to go after for sure.”

Stephen has played golf since he was 10 years old and credited his time on the green for improving his basketball prowess.

He explained: “Golf has helped my basketball career so much.

“It’s let me scratch my competitive itch and still work on my mental approach to sport while out on the golf course.

"I get to be outside in nature, which is the exact opposite of being in the gym for seven or eight hours a day. It’s done a lot for me.

“Everyone says, ‘If you spent as much time playing golf as you did basketball growing up, would you have made it to the PGA Tour?’

“I’m like, ‘I’d hope so, but who knows?’

“I know I picked the right profession, let’s put it that way.”