After a successful 2K tournament this past week that included members of the LA Clippers, the NBA should consider adding the concept into All-Star weekend.
NBA players play NBA 2K20. Shocker, right? Not really, and some of those players are very talented both on the court and on the sticks. LA Clippers’ stars Patrick Beverley and Montrezl Harrell were included in a field of 16 NBA players in the first installment of the NBA 2K Players Tournament, run by ESPN and 2K Sports. The field included both well-known players such as Kevin Durant and young, up and coming stars like Derrick Jones Jr. and Trae Young.
The tournament as a whole was a major success with very good gameplay and funny moments, including Patrick Beverley and his endless jabbing and trash talk with his opponents.
Beverley was one of the biggest characters and talks of the tournament, weaving his way all the way to the semifinals before being eliminated by Suns center Deandre Ayton.
Meanwhile, fellow Clippers teammate Montrezl Harrell made his way to the semifinals as well before being eliminated by eventual winner Devin Booker from the Suns. Harrell had some funny moments as well but getting posterized by your opponent while he is using you in a video game is something that is hard to come back from.
Again, the tournament was a major success and the NBA should strongly consider adding it to its already fun All-Star weekend lineup and here are some ideas for how they could make the tournament even more fun.
For starters, one of the most fun parts of All-Star weekend is always the Celebrity All-Star Game, so why not feature eight NBA players, obviously Booker needs to be one of them to defend his title, and eight celebrities or analysts and have two separate brackets. Who wouldn’t love seeing Stephen A. Smith battle a celebrity on NBA 2K?
Of course, the tournament had its incentive for victory, donating to a COVID-19 relief organization of your choosing, but adding the incentive of picking your own charity to donate to when achieving victory would add some good publicity for the league and bring awareness to organizations that help on an everyday basis.
Also adding in the idea that by that time crowds of people will hopefully be able to come together in Indiana in 2021 to take in the talents of these players, having a crowd with live reactions to what is happening in the games would be absolutely awesome and give fans a chance to interact with their favorite celebrities and players.
This idea would be very fun for the league, the players and the fans and if NBA 2K and the league decide to incorporate another tournament at any point, expect Patrick Beverley to throw his hat back in the ring and win himself a NBA 2K Tournament crown.