This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at the MyCAREER story in NBA 2K20, titled “When The Lights Are Brightest”.
Following NBA 2K18’s ridiculous MyCAREER tale starring a prospect who quit basketball to be a DJ, finally makes it to the NBA following a streetball tournament, and is flanked by his annoying best friend/roommate B-Fresh, NBA 2K19 featured a much better written story. “The Way Back” not only boasted impressive production values from a cinematic standpoint, but also attempted to spice up the journey with mini-games and other interactive elements. It wasn’t perfect, but it stood out as one of the better MyCAREER stories, and a tough act to follow.
To that end, Visual Concepts collaborated with Maverick Carter and LeBron James on the story for NBA 2K20’s MyCAREER, “When The Lights Are Brightest”. Indeed, Carter, LeBron, and their production company, Springhill Entertainment, are credited on the cover as executive producers for MyCAREER. The story has been shelved for good following the shutdown of the NBA 2K20 servers, since MyCAREER is no longer playable. With that being said, what was the story, was it any good, and are we missing out since we’re now unable to revisit it? Let’s take a look back…way back…