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LeBron & Kobe Team Up?!?

LeBron & Kobe Team Up?!?

It’s time to share another story from my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER! Previously, I’ve told stories about humorous generated player tattoos, and profiled Terry Hanson and Elden Jennings. Today, I’m recounting how the 2014 offseason saw LeBron James and Kobe Bryant team up in Los Angeles.

As I noted earlier this week, LeBron vs. Kobe was an NBA Finals matchup that was highly anticipated, but never came to pass. Around the same time, a Kobe for LeBron trade was discussed, which turned into a counteroffer that would’ve seen the two all-time greats become teammates. It’s been interesting to see this “What If” scenario actually play out in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, where the AI is obviously responsible for all of the player movement. Mind you, it hasn’t been going as smoothly as the virtual Lakers would’ve hoped.

Seeing LeBron and Kobe team up is a great example of why it’s a blast to play multiple seasons in franchise and career modes. I’m actually hoping that virtual Kobe changes his mind about retiring and sticks around for at least one more year, just to see how it adds to the ongoing saga. In the meantime, I’ll be sharing more stories from my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, so please subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel! Dee and I will have plenty more basketball gaming content throughout 2023 and beyond, so join us as we celebrate the fun we’re having on the virtual hardwood.

LeBron vs. Kobe: The NBA Finals We Didn’t Get

LeBron vs. Kobe: The NBA Finals We Didn't Get

In 2007, the NBA was buzzing about the possibility of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant teaming up, when the latter was demanding a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers. Of course, Kobe stuck around, the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol, and together they won two titles in three NBA Finals appearances. Unfortunately for fans who were hoping to see two of the league’s biggest stars clash, we never got to see LeBron vs. Kobe in the Finals.

Funnily enough, Kobe and LeBron have teamed up in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER; a story that I’ll be getting to in a video next week. While capturing some footage for that feature, I decided to play out a LeBron vs. Kobe NBA Finals matchup in NBA Live 10. I opted to use Kobe and the Lakers, and it was a fun challenge to mount a comeback after LeBron and the Cavs stormed out to an early lead. Kobe was still at the top of his game in 2010, and while I obviously tried to share the ball around, it was tough not to just give it to the Mamba and demand everyone else get out of the way! Enjoy the highlights from this “What If” NBA Finals showdown.

Be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more video content from Dee and I, and stay tuned for the next instalment in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER Stories series!

Wayback Wednesday: When The Lights Are Brightest in NBA 2K20

Wayback Wednesday: When The Lights Are Brightest in NBA 2K20

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…

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Monday Tip-Off: NBA 2K14 MyCAREER Trading Cards

Monday Tip-Off: NBA 2K14 MyCAREER Trading Cards

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with a collection of virtual trading cards, based on my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER.

I’m wrapping up my kick with the PlayStation 4 version of NBA 2K14 with a month of Wayback Wednesday features, but I also wanted to pay further tribute to the fun I’ve had in MyCAREER. Playing through four full seasons was an absolute blast, and I look forward to continuing the journey in Year 5 when I’m ready for a break from NBA 2K23. Although I’m putting the game and my story topic on the shelf for the moment, I’ve created one last bit of content based on my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER: a series of trading cards.

Now, graphic design certainly isn’t my forte, and the layout I’ve chosen is not exactly original. Indeed, it’s intended to pay tribute to a series of cards by Fleer that were one of the last sets that I actively collected as a teenager back in the late 90s. NBA trading cards hold a lot of nostalgia for me, and playing through NBA 2K14 MyCAREER was a throwback experience, too. On top of being an older game, it also reminded me of the importance of enjoying the journey rather than mindlessly grinding, and feeling enthusiastic enough to create a story topic. As such, these virtual trading cards are meant to commemorate what’s been a fun journey in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER so far.

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NLSC Podcast #432: Where’s Our Mamba Mode?

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #432 of the NLSC Podcast!

Which players would we like to bring into the modern NBA? There are a few we’d love to see prove their worth to younger basketball fans, and we’re not just talking about all-time greats! Hooping with Mario, Bowser, and other video game characters reminds us that modding doesn’t always have to be serious. Of course, part of the fun is making mods and modding resources free, and freely available. An enthusiastic response to a mailbag question prompts an in-depth discussion on possibilities for a new retro challenge mode in NBA 2K23 and beyond. We share our own ideas, as well as the many creative suggestions that we received from the community.

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

The Friday Five: 5 Cover Players That Won Titles The Same Year

The Friday Five: 5 Cover Players That Won Titles The Same Year

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five cover players that won NBA titles in the same season their game came out.

Last week, I listed five players who graced video game covers in the same year that they made the NBA Finals. More specifically, I was referring to players who made the Finals, but were ultimately the runners-up. Obviously, cover players who won titles while being the face of a game technically qualify as examples for last week’s list as well. However, I did want to draw a distinction between the cover players who “only” made it to the Finals that same year, and those who actually won titles. While both are accomplishments and interesting trivia, the latter is naturally rather more special.

To that end, the number of cover players that won titles in the same year is smaller than the already select group of names who made the Finals while being the face of NBA Live, NBA 2K, or another title. As I noted last week, publishers like EA and 2K are no doubt more interested in a player’s popularity and marketability than whether they’ll be in the Finals, or NBA Champions. I have no doubt that they’re happy when it does occur, but given that it’s a gamble even if they ink a deal with a player from a contender, it’s a bonus boost to the brand at the end of the day. NBA Champion cover players are something that a handful of titles can boast however, including these five.

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Monday Tip-Off: The Worst Virtual NBA Finalists

Monday Tip-Off: The Worst Virtual NBA Finalists

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with a look at the worst virtual NBA Finalists that I’ve encountered in all my years of basketball gaming.

Simulation engines are far from infallible. They already have a tough task as far as generating realistic results, given that the actual NBA can produce some unexpected outcomes. However, some of the results we see in our virtual seasons are definitely unrealistically favourable to upsets and underdogs. It makes me wonder about the articles that simulate the forthcoming season in NBA 2K. Did they run with the first simulation, or did they have to keep trying until the game produced more believable results, with realistic NBA Finalists and Champions?

Having finished seasons in multiple games, I’ve encountered a variety of virtual NBA Finalists, including a few surprising ones. The Minnesota Timberwolves in Year 3 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER would definitely qualify as such a squad. Indeed, when I mentioned to Dee4Three that they were my opponent, and sent him a screenshot of their roster, he observed that they were a strong candidate for the worst team to ever make the NBA Finals. Dee suggested that they merited a closer look in an article, and I liked the idea; especially as it got me thinking about some of the other virtual NBA Finalists I’ve faced in games, and whether any were as weak as those Timberwolves.

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The Friday Five: 5 Cover Players That Made the Finals The Same Year

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five cover players that made the NBA Finals in the same season their game came out.

The 2022 NBA Finals are upon us! Fittingly, in this 75th Anniversary season, the two teams squaring off are the Golden State Warriors, and the Boston Celtics. Not only are they two of the original three BAA/NBA teams – the New York Knicks being the third – but the Warriors and Celtics have plenty of championship history between them. The Warriors were the inaugural BAA champions, and have gone on to win another five titles since. Boston, meanwhile, were long-time record holders for total NBA championships, and are currently tied with the Los Angeles Lakers with 17.

While there’s plenty of real life history involved with this year’s Finals matchup, it is lacking a tie-in with the virtual hardwood, namely involving cover players. There was only one game on the market for the 2022 season – NBA 2K22 – and while it boasted a few different covers, none of them featured a player that will be competing in this year’s championship series. Popularity and marketability are obviously the deciding factors when EA Sports and Visual Concepts choose their cover players, rather than likelihood of winning or at least competing for a title that year. Of course, it’s quite fortuitous when they do! Here are five cover players that made it as far as the Finals.

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NLSC Greatest Performances: The Delonte West Deluge

NLSC Greatest Performances: The Delonte West Deluge

If you’re subscribed to the NLSC YouTube channel – and you absolutely should be! – then you may have seen that Dee4Three has tipped off a new video series: NLSC Greatest Performances! This series spotlights incredible performances on the virtual hardwood, and first up is Delonte West.

As you may recall, Delonte West had himself a night during our NBA Live 10 Tournament! In a series featuring LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, it was West who stepped up for Cavs4872 in the second half of Game 2 against QB1120 and the Lakers, scorching the nets for 39 points in just 12 minutes. Dee has compiled a highlight reel of Delonte’s scoring deluge, which came from a barrage of cold-blooded jumpers and fearless forays to the rim. Watch as West turns King James and the Black Mamba into mere spectators!

These epic performances by Virtual Hardwood Legends are as entertaining as putting up numbers with the all-time greats, and they stick in our minds for years to come. As this series continues, Dee will be spotlighting many incredible performances in basketball video games, new and old. From the superstars of the sport to Virtual Hardwood Legends to career mode avatars, stay tuned for a dazzling array of highlights in NLSC Greatest Performances!

Wayback Wednesday: The OMG Trailer for NBA 2K14

Wayback Wednesday: The OMG Trailer for NBA 2K14

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 OMG Trailer for NBA 2K14.

Is there a more important and impactful trailer in the history of basketball gaming than the OMG Trailer, promoting NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One? While there have been other fantastic trailers and promotional spots for basketball video games, you’d be hard-pressed to find one that turned as many heads, and that gamers still know by name. It boldly announced the arrival of a new generation, and made a statement that Visual Concepts were eager to make full use of the technology they now had at their disposal.

The OMG Trailer for NBA 2K14 is something you can still appreciate today. It still looks amazing almost a decade and entire console generation later. In a way, it’s even more impressive now that we know the game lived up to the hype; even if a few of us discovered that later than others! There’s more to the OMG Trailer for NBA 2K14 than just reflecting on how awesome it was, though. It’s had a lasting impact on the series and basketball gaming as a whole, but has also proven to be a hard act to follow. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Wayback Wednesday: Oldest NBA Rookies & Their Video Game Debuts

Wayback Wednesday: Oldest NBA Rookies & Their Video Game Debuts

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 oldest rookies in NBA history, and their subsequent video game debuts.

One of the interesting oddities about early iterations of MyCAREER is that you were able to set your age. This meant that if you wanted to role-play as an established pro that was finally making their way to the NBA, then you could effectively make that part of your bio. These days, your MyPLAYER avatar has a fixed age that fits their back story, that generally being a young player coming out of college. It makes sense, but considering that there have been many rookies that are new to the league but not to professional basketball, it’s a shame that such an option is no longer available.

Of course, we still see real examples of latecomers to the NBA in the official rosters, and there have been some noteworthy stories over the years. I’ll admit that since I’ve entered my 30s, I have a greater appreciation for the NBA’s oldest rookies, especially in an era where there seems to be a Logan’s Run approach to veteran players. In fact, referring to them as the “oldest rookies” feels rather strange now that I’m older than they were at the time! Between these rookies being the oldest debutants and some of the games that they were featured in, this is definitely one for the “old heads”. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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The Friday Five: 5 Mind-Blowing Basketball Gaming Facts for 2022

The Friday Five: 5 Mind-Blowing Basketball Gaming Facts for 2022

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five offers up five basketball gaming trivia tidbits that are mind-blowing facts in 2022.

This will be difficult to appreciate if you were born in the late 90s or early 2000s, but there was a time that the Year 2000 screamed “futuristic”. It felt that way for me as a kid and later a teenager in the 90s, and I’m sure it really felt that way for my parents who were born in the 40s. The Year 2022 truly seemed like the stuff of science-fiction all those years ago, yet here we are. Granted, we’re somewhat behind schedule as far as flying cars, living on the moon, and everyone wearing shiny jumpsuits. Still, when it comes to certain technology, we have many things that were once the stuff of sci-fi.

They’re now just normal, everyday conveniences, but that’s how it goes as technology marches on. All the same, there’s something mind-blowing about it being the Year 2022, especially for those of us who remember the Year 2000 like it was only five, ten, or at most fifteen years ago. Once the years start flying by, the rising stars of the NBA are suddenly the veterans with a decade under their belts. The basketball video games you’re nostalgic for suddenly feel very retro. Even the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are beginning to seem old! In the spirit of acknowledging the passage of time, here are five basketball gaming facts that are – all clickbait aside – mind-blowing.

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NLSC Podcast #382: A Community Connected

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Episode #382 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Derek (aka Dee4Three) and I are your hosts for this weekly podcast that’s all about basketball gaming.

We haven’t been able to get enough of Parsec as of late, but we’re not the only ones taking a shine to it. More members of the community are participating in head-to-head games, with Parsec facilitating clashes in NBA 2K17 and NBA 2K19 using retro season and classic team mods. Speaking of retro season mods, which is our favourite so far? As for NBA Live 10, it’s still on our agenda, as we’ve got plenty more ideas for Fantasy Teams mode! Fresh NBA 2K22 rumours give us something else to talk about this week, though we still miss the longer and more exciting preview seasons of yesteryear. In this week’s mailbag, we answer a question about the new Space Jam game, which leads us to reflect on some other esoteric games starring basketball players.

Join in the conversation in the comments below, or here in the Forum! Additionally, feel free to hit us up with any feedback on the episode, as well as mailbag questions and topic suggestions for future shows. For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. The show also comes out on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe for future episodes and other video content.

Wayback Wednesday: NBA What Ifs Portrayed in NBA Live 10

Wayback Wednesday: NBA What Ifs Portrayed in NBA Live 10

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at some famous NBA What Ifs, and portraying them in NBA Live 10.

What Ifs can be fun to ponder, whether they concern the NBA or video games. There are trades and signings that, if they’d happened, would’ve changed the course of NBA history. Likewise, we can point to game-changing moments in the history of the virtual hardwood. Indeed, NBA Live 10 is an example of such a turning point. If EA Sports had elected to continue building on the base it established rather than trying to reboot the series with the ill-fated NBA Elite 11, the basketball gaming landscape would undoubtedly be very different today.

As far as NBA What Ifs are concerned though, they’re something that we can play out in video games. It’s a great concept for a roster, and while that’s not what I’m doing today, I’ve decided to mix a couple of ideas together by reflecting on some of the biggest NBA What Ifs and portraying them using NBA Live 10; a game that has an air of What If about it. Obviously there are some other historical NBA What Ifs that I won’t be touching on here because the players aren’t in NBA Live 10, but feel free to discuss those in the comments as well. Let’s wonder what might have been as we take a look back…way back…

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File Additions for NBA 2K21

NBA 2K21 Cover Art (Current Gen)

Today’s file additions for NBA 2K21 PC feature the latest face updates. Download them all at the links below!

Shuajota
Drew Eubanks Face
Facundo Campazzo Face
Mike James Face

XeqTeR
LeBron James Face by XeqTeR

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.