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 reflecting on the 1996 NBA offseason.
Another NBA offseason is upon us, and it’s off to an interesting start! Kawhi Leonard is heading back to the Toronto Raptors, while LeBron James has announced that he’ll return for his 24th season, but it won’t be with the Los Angeles Lakers. Though the offseason ultimately slows down and hardcore hoop heads get a little anxious waiting for the new season to begin, these big moves at the beginning always make it exciting. I was already planning on reminiscing about the 1996 NBA offseason this week, but these major stories involving multi-time All-Stars make it an even more apt topic!
You see, the 1996 NBA offseason was a big one, and certainly memorable for me. I was still a fairly newly-minted basketball fan, fresh off of seeing my favourite team win a championship. As such, it was my first experience really following along with the proceedings. Several big names switched teams in 1996, and although that didn’t stand in the way of the Chicago Bulls completing the Drive for Five, that offseason ultimately still played a large role in shaping the future of the NBA. As it’s been 30 years since the 1996 NBA offseason, let’s take a look back…way back…
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 another list of potential comebacks that would’ve been fun to play with in video games.
As I’ve taken a few more trips around the sun, I’ve developed stronger opinions about veterans seemingly being shooed out of the NBA. It just doesn’t feel right when long-tenured players – especially former All-Stars – end their careers so unceremoniously. Of course, as Jackie MacMullan discussed in a column some ten years ago, veteran NBA players don’t always know when their time has come, and when to let go. She cited R.C. Buford, who recalled an embarrassing 15-minute workout by an unnamed former Spurs player after they expressed an interest in returning midseason.
Mind you, some players do retire too soon, while others have shown that they can still be productive in their late 30s and even into their 40s. There have also been successful comebacks, even if those players weren’t quite as good as they were in their prime. As much as “Wizards Michael Jordan” is a meme, that stint is slightly underrated, as MJ was finding his groove prior to his knee injury. With that in mind, I’m in favour of players making or even just considering comebacks. There are some fascinating What Ifs with the ones that almost happened, and they could’ve been a blast in video games, too. And so, here are five more comebacks that would’ve been fun for hoops gamers!
It’s awesome to see free mod releases happening for NBA 2K26 in our community, and to that end, bratnajbolji has created a great update for the 2001 Los Angeles Lakers court and arena. Check it out at the link below!
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 Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.
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 pondering another historical NBA What If, specifically what if Charles Barkley was traded to the Lakers in 1992?
When I think of Charles Barkley, I generally picture him in the Phoenix Suns’ iconic sunburst uniforms of the 90s. After all, that’s where he was playing when I started taking a keener interest in basketball. Hoop heads who have been watching longer than I have may well picture him on the Philadelphia 76ers instead, and indeed that stint accounts for half of his career. With that being said, it wouldn’t surprise me if the MVP and NBA Finals appearance in 1993 has led to those fans likewise coming to associate Chuck with the Suns more than the 76ers (or the Houston Rockets).
Of course, had a proposed trade gone through in 1992, it seems a safe bet to say that we’d have never seen Sir Charles in a Suns or Rockets uniform. For a brief moment, Charles Barkley was set to join the Los Angeles Lakers, before the deal went up in smoke. As with any What If involving legendary players, it’s fascinating trying to imagine an alternate history and all of the possible ripple effects. It’s all speculation at the end of the day, but Charles Barkley going to the Lakers is undoubtedly a huge What If, in real life and on the virtual hardwood. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 Kobe Bryant’s 81-point game, ahead of its 20th anniversary.
Tomorrow marks 20 years since Kobe Bryant torched the Toronto Raptors with an 81-point outburst, setting a new mark for the second-highest points scored in an NBA game. It always sounds cliché when we talk about how the years seem to fly by after we’ve taken a few more trips around the sun, but it’s absolutely true! Our perception of time undoubtedly changes. When Kobe dropped 81 on January 22nd 2006, I was only 21, so 20 years felt like a long time to me; basically a lifetime, in fact! Things that happened 20 years before that – or 20 years before I was even born – felt ancient.
For example, 20 years before Kobe had his 81-point game, Larry Bird and the Celtics were the 1986 Champions. To me, that felt like something from another time. And yet, because I remember it, Kobe’s 81-point game feels contemporary despite it being as old today as the Celtics’ 1986 title was in 2006! Again, it doesn’t feel like it’s been 20 years; or perhaps more accurately, 20 years doesn’t feel the same. It doesn’t feel like eight years since I last reflected on Kobe’s big game, or indeed, six since his tragic passing. As that game is turning 20 though, let’s take a look back…way back…
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 coincidences with squads in the series of Legends Challenges in NBA Live 19 Ultimate Team.
As was the case with NBA Live 18, Ultimate Team has been one of my main modes of choice during my NBA Live 19 kick. It’s the only way to play with all the Legends, which appeals to my nostalgic approach to basketball gaming these days. Because I’m getting into NBA Live 19 Ultimate Team so late in the game, I’ll still have plenty of unfinished Challenges when the servers are shut down. With that in mind, I’m picking and choosing the ones that appeal to me the most. Needless to say, that includes the 31-game series of Legends Challenges!
Each game in the series of Legends Challenges places a former great back in uniform, albeit the jersey that their respective teams are sporting during the 2019 season. While they may be playing alongside one or two of their former teammates – or at least other greats who played for that team at some point – the squads are generally comprised of whichever Legends would make for a challenging lineup. For the most part, it doesn’t seem that those out-of-place Legends have been selected for any specific reason. To that end, I noted what I believe are some fun coincidences with the (mis)placement of certain players in the Legends Challenges, from actual history to infamous What Ifs.
Today’s NBA 2K14 mod releases feature an update for the Los Angeles Lakers’ Showtime jerseys, specifically adding the 60th Anniversary patch from the 2008 season. Check it out at the link below!
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 Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.
Online support for NBA 2K23 may have ended last year, but we’re still seeing some mod releases for the game! Today’s release is a 2025 season City court update for the Los Angeles Lakers, created by Lethanos. Pick it up at the link below!
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 Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.
From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #590 of the NLSC Podcast!
While NBA 2K26 will be a hot topic over the next month and beyond, this week we turn our attention to a classic that’s in our rotation, namely NBA 2K9. Now that we’re ten games into our co-op NBA 2K9 Association with the Chicago Bulls, we provide a detailed recap of everything that’s happened so far, and discuss some possible roster moves. The fun we’ve been having with the game also moves us to reflect once again on what a strong release it was. We also invited the community to weigh in on which teams they’d most like to start an Association with in NBA 2K9, and reminisce about some of the 2009 season lineups that were fun in real life and on the virtual hardwood alike.
Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:12:04 — 49.8MB)
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!
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 dusting off NBA Live 2004 to see when LeBron James will retire in its Dynasty mode.
As of writing, it seems a safe guess to say that LeBron James will likely play at least one more season. He has an opportunity to set a new record by playing in his 23rd campaign, not to mention add to his career statistics and possibly contend for another championship. It would also give him an opportunity to further mentor his son Bronny and likely play some more minutes side-by-side with him, while also enjoying a full retirement tour. And of course, if by some chance he does decide that the 2025 season was his last, he’s obviously had a long and extremely successful career.
His longevity, while certainly impressive, isn’t altogether surprising. Not only are we seeing more players stick around for 16+ seasons, but LeBron is obviously a superb athlete, and has remained healthy throughout his career. As with other greats who came straight out of high school, it was commonly speculated that LeBron would go on to have a long career, but what did contemporary video games predict? With Dynasty mode in NBA Live 2004 consisting of 25 seasons, the game may still be able to correctly predict when LeBron will retire! Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 Dennis Rodman and his changing hair colour on the virtual hardwood.
For decades now, it’s been common to see NBA players with prominent tattoos. Other players have made fashion statements through their hairstyles, sometimes bleaching or colouring their locks in some way. Jeremy Sochan is an example of both, sporting ink and adopting some very colourful looks during his three year NBA career. To that point though, Sochan brings to mind another power forward that once played for the Spurs, wore #10, and was infamous for his numerous tattoos and ever-changing hair colour. I am of course referring to Dennis Rodman!
The Worm’s unique style and unapologetic self-expression at times overshadowed his brilliance on the court, but there was no denying his popularity in the 90s; especially after he was traded to the Chicago Bulls and became an integral part of their second threepeat. Naturally, Rodman’s counterpart on the virtual hardwood was expected to capture this look, which was indeed achieved through unique textures and models. Quite impressively however, several old games also went so far as to give Dennis Rodman changing hair colour as well. Let’s take a look back…way back…
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 random and interesting NBA player stories that I’ve encountered.
Writing articles for the NLSC for all these years has been a rewarding experience. Obviously, it’s creatively satisfying for someone who has always enjoyed writing and is passionate about basketball and basketball video games, but to that point, it’s also catered to my enthusiasm for history and trivia. Covering NBA history and roster trivia through the lens of basketball video games not only conveniently avoids the need to use copyrighted images, but has also led me to discover some fascinating facts and stories about the hardwood, real and virtual.
To that end, I’ve recounted these tales in previous articles, but I wanted to revisit some of the most interesting NBA player stories that I’ve encountered while producing content for the NLSC. We all know the stories and many basic facts and figures about the all-time greats, but we so often overlook the interesting journeys of lesser-known names; stories such as the promising player who never quite made it to the NBA, the player whose journey to the NBA could inspire MyCAREER stories, players whose careers are What Ifs, and some interesting records. You may have heard these five NBA player stories before – from me or someone else – but they’re worth telling again.
You may have noticed a few plays in the weekly NLSC Top 10 being credited to Team NLSC. They’re from co-op games that Dee and I have played over Parsec, which continues to be a lot of fun. Dee is always assembling highlights from those sessions, with our most recent games featuring NBA Live 18 and NBA 2K17.
The NBA Live 18 highlights are from our game against the Denver Nuggets using the Utah Jazz. As we recalled in Episode #556 of the NLSC Podcast, this was a revenge game after the first contest got away from us. We were definitely trying to put on a show with Donovan Mitchell, and it produced some spectacular moments that were immensely satisfying to pull off!
In a game that we’ll undoubtedly discuss on an upcoming show, we also fired up NBA 2K17 to play with Dee’s Ultimate Classic Teams Roster. This allowed us to flash back to the mid 2000s and take on Kobe Bryant’s post-Shaq, pre-Pau Lakers with a New Jersey Nets squad featuring Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, and Richard Jefferson. Those Nets are a quintessential Video Game Team, with Vinsanity unsurprisingly providing many of the highlights.
Check out both highlight reels below! As always, be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel if you haven’t already, and feel free to hit us up with any suggestions of games that you’d like to see us play. We’ll do our best to get them into the rotation, and of course, talk about them on the NLSC Podcast!
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 star players who played for both the Lakers and Celtics.
It is undoubtedly the most iconic rivalry in the history of the NBA. It even inspired the title of the very first game in the NBA Playoffs/NBA Live series! As of writing, the Lakers and the Celtics have combined for 35 of the 78 championships in league history, and have clashed in the Finals a record 12 times. The 2024 season saw the Celtics edge ahead of the Lakers with their 18th championship, and they also have a 9-3 edge in their twelve NBA Finals clashes. Boston also leads the all-time series, and is the only team with a lifetime winning record against LA.
Of course, despite the rivalry and all of the passionate responses it invites from Lakers and Celtics fans, the teams have often done deals. Furthermore, taking into account players that joined one or both teams via free agency, there’s a long list of players who have donned both Celtics green and Lakers purple and gold. That’s inevitable with the teams being around for decades, but it does get interesting when you look for stars and Hall of Famers who ended up playing for both of these storied franchises. To that end, there are five particularly noteworthy players that come to mind here. As we tip off a new season where all eyes are on both teams, let’s take a look at who they are!
If you’ve subscribed to the NLSC YouTube channel, then you may have already seen this week’s instalment of the NBA 2K14 Retro Series. If not, you’re in for a radical treat, as it’s a re-creation of Game 4 of the 1991 NBA Finals between Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers!
Why Game 4 of the 1991 NBA Finals in particular? Well, I originally intended it to be the title-clinching Game 5, but I neglected to make some necessary adjustments to the Lakers’ lineup to accurately portray that contest. Obviously, these highlights would still work as a re-imagining of a non-specific clash from that Finals series, but I decided to make it Game 4 as it lines up with MJ doing it all at the offensive end in that game, from pouring in buckets to racking up assists. Indeed, he dished out more assists than Magic in Game 4, and his final line of 29 points and 12 assists is very close to the actual box score. Check it out!
As always, there’ll be more fun on the way very soon, so be sure to subscribe to the NLSC YouTube channel for more basketball gaming content! Remember that Dee and I are also open to suggestions for games that you’d like to see us play, so feel free to hit us up. Also be sure to submit your best plays to Dee to be featured in the weekly Top 10 countdown!
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