The current COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has led to the cancellation of some major events, including the shut down of Disneyland, E3’s cancellation, and the suspension of the current NBA season. In response, many fans are trying to simulate the rest of the NBA season using one ofthe best selling games of 2019,NBA 2K20.
This suspension has lead to an influx of fans migrating to the video game, some of which probably gotNBA 2K20through Xbox Game Pass, but it seems fans aren’t the only ones flooding the game. Real-life NBA team Phoenix Suns plans to continue playing the current season using theNBA 2K20video game.
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The Phoenix Suns made the announcement on Twitter yesterday that they would continue to play the Suns season usingNBA 2K20. What’s more, they’ll be streaming the game live on Twitch so fans can watch as they “take on the Dallas Mavericks.” The tweet doesn’t make it clear who will be hosting the stream and if they will be playing someone from the actual Mavericks or an AI opponent. Phoenix Suns team member Devin Booker is a Twitch streamer, though, so it’s very likely he’ll be involved in the stream.
Following the recent announcement that the NBA season would be suspended due to concerns about the growing coronavirus threat, many fans were left disappointed that they would not be able to see how their favorite team’s season would end. As a result, many fans turned to the next best thing: using a video game to simulate how the rest of the season would turn out. Sure, it may not be the most accurate way to predict a game, but it’s a lot more engaging than studying a bunch of charts and calculating stats. Plus, the ability to play as your favorite team or even a15-year-oldand lead them to victory does have a major appeal.
The easiest way to simulate the current NBA season would be to use2K20’s “Start Today” feature. However, the current suspension of the season has caused a bug in this mode, though this ishardly a first forNBA 2K20. The way the feature works is it starts players where the current season is and continues with the rest of the scheduled games. But since there aren’t any more games scheduled this season, this has caused the mode to crash the game back to the console’s dashboard.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver placed the league on a minimum 30-day hiatus on March 12th following the discovery that one of its players has tested positive for COVID-19. Though the results won’t matter when the season does eventually pick back up, if the Suns continue playing their games on2K20and streaming them online, at least basketball fans won’t be bored during these trying times.
NBA 2K20is available on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia.
