Ted Cruz has a heck of a Plan B for his upcoming Jimmy Kimmel basketball battle

A Ted Cruz lookalike has offered to stand in for the U.S. senator for his pending basketball duel against late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

The Texas Republican may want to seriously consider the offer, since it came from Duke star and NBA prospect Grayson Allen.

Cruz challenged Kimmel on Twitter to a one-on-one game in which the loser donates $5,000 to a charity of the winner’s choice.

But it was Kimmel who provoked the contest, when he said Cruz looked like a blobfish in a photo Cruz tweeted on May 28 from the NBA Western Conference Finals.

Kimmel gave the background on the challenge on the May 31 episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" The game has since been set for June 16 in Houston.

On Thursday, Allen tweeted “Hey @tedcruz if you need a stand in against @jimmykimmel I know a guy.”

Cruz hadn’t returned a direct response by Friday afternoon, though he had retweeted Allen’s offer.

Comparisons of Allen and Cruz have been made for several years now.

Cruz even tweeted a photo of Allen in 2017 in response to a Deadspin article and post soliciting proof of Cruz playing basketball.

Someone also alluded to their similar looks as Allen held an “Ask Me Anything” segment on Reddit Thursday afternoon.

When asked if he would play Ted Cruz in a movie, Allen replied, "for sure.”

This story was originally published June 8, 2018 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Ted Cruz has a heck of a Plan B for his upcoming Jimmy Kimmel basketball battle."