UPDATED 3/31, 11:15 a.m. ET: Several of the NBA's most avid gamers are expected to compete in the 16-player tournament. Per Yahoo Sports, Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond, are just some of the stars expected to participate.
Later on Tuesday, the official lineup for the tournament was revealed. Check it out below.
See original story below.
According to Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes, the NBA has plans to launch a players-only NBA 2K tournament that will (in theory) be made up of the best gamers from each team in the league. You already know the reason but, in the sake of providing context should this article be clicked on in the future, they're doing this because the coronavirus halted basketball and all sports and recreation in general.
What a time.
League sources tell Yahoo that the virtual games will be broadcasted on ESPN. The league wishes to get this event launched by Friday with the intent of getting some big-name players to participate.
This idea is not without precedent as four MLB players faced off against one another in a The Show tournament on Friday, during what was originally scheduled to be the opening weekend of the baseball season. That said, the NBA one sounds far larger in scale and more official.
Without any source for this I feel comfortable saying that fans of all sports are hoping for better contingency plans in the long-term. Especially since, on Sunday, the federal government stated their intent to push back social-distancing measures to April 30 at the earliest.
Yahoo adds that the league is finalizing tournament details, but that they intend to have a player from each team serve as a representative.
The idea is that the tournament could distract fans who are having competition withdrawals. Also, as anyone who's tuned in lately could tell you, ESPN could really use some help right now.
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