It has been almost 3 weeks since the sports went away. In that time America has tried to filled that basketball-shaped hole with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Tiger King. If you need a break from your animal companions or can only stomach so much of white people doing the most, fear not. Basketball is back.
Well, kind of.
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CBS Sports reports that starting Friday, ESPN will be airing a NBA2K20 tournament between 16 current NBA players. The plan is for the tournament to be held over 10 days. Among those participating are Brooklyn Nets player and two-time NBA Champion Kevin Durant as well as players like Trae Young and Devin Booker. The players are seeded according to their in-game player ranking.
Honestly, I think this is a pretty fun substitute for the actual sport. It’s a really neat way to blend the worlds of sports and e-sports. Over the last decade, NBA2K managed to become one of the biggest franchises in gaming. I’m simply surprised that it took a whole ass pandemic for a tournament like this to happen.
As an Arizona boy, I’m rooting for Booker to pull through and lay the smackdown on the rest of the competition. I’m also curious to see how much of a shit-talker KD is when it comes to 2K. I have no doubt that the easy money sniper will have the passive-aggressive asides on lock. I also wouldn’t doubt DeMarcus Cousins being the dude who hits you with “You ain’t tryna throw hands though,” when losing.
If this proves to be a success I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a similar tournament take place in MLB The Show 20 as baseball season has also been delayed. Heck, football season is months off but that’s no reason why we couldn’t get a good Madden tournament going between NFL players.
Straight From 
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