Trae Young will show off his moves on a console instead of a court.
The Hawks guard is part of a 16-player field of NBA standouts participating in a simulation video game, the NBA 2K20 Players Tournament.
The NBA, the players’ association and 2K announced the event on Tuesday. Play begins Friday, and the winner of the week-long competition will receive a $100,000 donation to a coronavirus-related relief effort of their choice.
The competition will be televised on ESPN and ESPN2.
Player have been seeded according to their NBA 2K player rating -- from Kevin Durant’s 96 down to Derrick Jones Jr.’s 78 -- and tenure. Durant, the Brooklyn Nets star who sat out this NBA season due to injury, will face Jones in the first game Friday night. The championship is set for April 11.
Participants will each select a pool of eight teams prior to the tournament and can only play with each club once throughout the tournament. Rounds one and two will be single elimination, and the semifinals and finals will be best-of-three.
The other matchups include Young vs. Harrison Barnes, Hassan Whiteside vs. Pat Beverley, Donovan Mitchel vs. Rui Hachimura, Devin Booker vs. Michael Porter Jr., Andre Drummond vs. DeMarcus Cousins, Zach LaVine vs. Deandre Ayton and Montrezl Harrell vs. Domantas Sabonis.
The NBA has been shut down since March 11, the night that Utah center Rudy Gobert became the first player in the league to have a positive diagnosis for the virus revealed. The league is still discussing scenarios for resuming play once allowed.
About the Author
