Of course, you still should remain locked in to monitor your matchup's moves, understand when to press up, move laterally, competition shots, and fight over displays. But the slow nature of off-the-ball motion can still be a tiresome thing to struggle with when controls don't react the way you intended or you simply run in place, stuck on teammates, and subsequently get punished for a defensive breakdown.Growing up, most NBA stars dream of running out of this tube and into a massive stadium filled with thousands of fans roaring. Possibly the only delight that could rival realizing your dream of making it into the pros would be to purchase the most recent edition of NBA2K to watch yourself at the video game that you played growing up. Although it might appear insignificant, there's a sense of coming full circle. But not just one WNBA participant had until lately. When NBA 2K20 premiered in 2019, it had been the first time the yearly match -- that thrived in 1999 -- featured WNBA players. Her predecessors didn't get the opportunity to play as themselves, but Washington Mystics wing Aerial Powers couldn't help but make a comparison when she played herself. "This is probably the way the men feel when they get into the league and they get a chance to play themselves on 2K," she explained. "It is just surreal and can be pretty fun."
"I would have never believed they'd implement girls into the match," Powers told USA TODAY Sports. Dallas Wings guard Allisha Gray has been playing 2K because Shaquille O'Neal graced the cover at 2005, and she still has difficulty believing that she's a part of it. Alexis Jones, who had been waived by the Atlanta Dream in August, has consistently enjoyed making her own participant on 2K and tends to mold his game after her own. This is going to be the first year she will not need to create herself at the image of a guy.
"That was my dream come true, I don't know about everybody else," Jones said. "I know that is one thing I always dreamed of as a little woman -- to maintain a 2K game. This chance to make yourself and build yourself and be a girl is dope." The significance of building your own WNBA player can't be overstated, especially for young girls who aspire to play basketball or are just fans of the sport. "I think it's astonishing that little girls can grow up and really play the game and understand that they can have the very same objectives and accomplishments as men," Jones said. Powers echoed the sentiment and how significant representation is for young ladies. She wants to see more advancement together with women in the video game industry in general.
Powers streams and plays video games on Twitch and is now particularly active in gaming because the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She even hosted an all-female 2K tournament in October that included a 30-minute opening musical group by Grammy Award Winning artist DJ Jazzy Jeff. The flow garnered over 26,000 viewers. The 2019 WNBA winner says if she plays video games she is sometimes met with misogynistic messages from different consumers, and she expects that new modes like"The W" will make it easier for women playing video games. "It kind of gives the younger women a fantastic look and says,'Hey, it is alright to be a female, like basketball and want to play,' since I know some of their male buddies may have a different opinion," Powers explained. "But if you Find the women from the game, it is like,'Hey, that is all right.'"