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 is a list of five moments in basketball gaming that were rather creepy, for one reason or another.

Halloween is looming, so just for fun, I’m reflecting on some of the creepy moments we’ve seen in various basketball video games. Generally speaking, there aren’t a lot of moments in basketball gaming that are downright horrifying. Like most sports games, they’re intended to be family friendly, and the genre doesn’t invite jump scares, gore, or other things that are inclined to scare us. I mean, the Skeleton Crew is there in NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, but they’re cartoonish Halloween decorations at the end of the day. Unless you’re very young, they’re not especially creepy.

Besides, if you’re looking for creepy stuff connected with the virtual hardwood, you really have to consider things that weren’t intentional, or aren’t immediately noticeable during gameplay. One could also consider humour and imagery that just came across as weird or uncomfortable instead. To that end, there are a few examples that we can name here, and since I’ve been mulling ideas for Halloween-themed features for at least a couple of years now, I’m going to run with five that come to mind for me. So, in the spirit of the holiday – pun fully intended – here are five moments in basketball gaming that make for creepy stories, or at least left us feeling rather weirded out.

1. Drazen Petrovic Sound Test (NBA Jam)

This story comes courtesy of Tim Kitzrow, the legendary voice of NBA Jam. Tim recalled this tale when I chatted to him a couple of years ago, as well as in some other interviews. Coming off his best NBA season and still young at 28, Croatian basketball legend Drazen Petrovic was tragically killed in a car accident in Germany during the 1993 offseason. Petrovic was included in the original NBA Jam as a member of the New Jersey Nets, which meant gamers could still play with the sharpshooting guard following his fatal accident. That wasn’t the only way that the future Hall of Famer made his presence felt on the virtual hardwood in the wake of his untimely passing.

Long before creepypastas and urban video game legends perpetuated by the Internet, NBA Jam cabinets were weaving a ghost story of their own. Late at night, when it was time to close up and turn out the lights, the cabinets would come alive and Tim Kitzrow’s voice could be heard calling out “Petrovic!” over and over again. A cabinet in Midway’s own cafeteria confirmed the creepy phenomenon. No doubt there’s a technical explanation involving the ROM’s self-testing routine and the part of the memory where Petrovic’s audio was stored, but it makes for one hell of a ghost story! Considering all of the rumours surrounding NBA Jam, truth is stranger than fiction.

2. Creepy Faces on the Scorer’s Table (NBA Live 08)

If there’s someone from the NBA Live 08 art team that’s reading this, or just anyone with an insightful suggestion to make, can you tell me what the hell that is? It’s not uncommon for some Easter eggs to appear in NBA Live. The devs have snuck some of their faces in as the coaches of the Decade All-Stars, and they’ve also shown up at the scorer’s table/press row on occasion. Of course, sometimes they’ve been playable characters. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t explain why a haunting amalgam of Michael Myers, Leatherface, and some other nightmarish ghoul, is casually sitting at the scorer’s table in NBA Live 08. No, seriously: what the hell is that creepy thing?!?

What’s even worse is that there isn’t just one of them. There are a number of these – things – dotted along the scorer’s table. Every one of them is sitting there glaring at you, or at least they would be if they had eyes rather than black, foreboding pits of nothingness. They also appear to have scars on their face, which probably means that they’re from the sequel to a slasher film, and that’s a remnant of what the heroes did to put them down in the first movie. Perhaps most terrifying of all, no one else seems to notice their presence, as some normal-looking people are just sitting there completely oblivious to their creepy colleagues. Run you fools! Seriously: what the hell is it?!?

3. Jason Collier’s Doppelganger (NBA Live 06)

Shortly before the 2006 season tipped off, Atlanta Hawks big man Jason Collier passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. By that time, NBA Live 06 had already gone gold, which meant it was too late to remove him from the game. To that end, gamers received a shock when the late Collier appeared as one of the referees in NBA Live 06 on PC, thanks to a bug. Only, it wasn’t a bug in the game; it was an oversight in my roster that placed him in the Referees Pool instead of assigning him to the Retired Pool. Actually, that didn’t happen, either. I thought it might have when a few people recalled seeing it happen, but after looking into it, it’s a creepy coincidence.

You see, one of the generic referees in NBA Live 06 bears a striking resemblance to Jason Collier. They have slightly different hair, but there’s definitely a similarity in the faces. It makes sense that one might see that referee show up at random and think that a bug in the game or roster had caused Collier’s face to be loaded instead. It’s a coincidence that becomes creepier because of his passing, and it clearly shocked a few gamers when they caught a glimpse of that referee. The moment has stuck in people’s minds, though the exact cause of the phenomenon has been incorrectly attributed. All the same, it was likely quite jarring the first time you saw it after the sad news broke.

4. Some Creepy Kobe Bryant-Related Imagery (NBA 2K21)

Suffice to say that many fans are still reeling from the tragic accident involving Kobe Bryant, and of course our heartbreak cannot compare to his family’s grief. In such situations, one is always mindful of being respectful when posting a tribute, lest it appear to be insincere and opportunistic. I was initially hesitant to post my article in the wake of the accident, fearing that it might come across that way. Likewise, there were questions as to whether the special edition of NBA 2K21 should honour Kobe. It seemed like the obvious thing to do, yet at the same time it could’ve been interpreted as trying to cash in on the tragedy. For the record, I’m fine with 2K opting to do it.

I’m less comfortable with a somewhat questionable creative decision in the teaser trailer. Around the eight second mark, there’s a brief glimpse of a shadowy figure with angel-like wings. At the 24 second mark, there’s another hooded figure, shrouded in darkness. Given the timestamps and the imagery, it’s not a stretch to infer that – as TGsoGood pointed out – it refers to the late Kobe Bryant. Now, I don’t want to come across as overly sensitive, and I’m not saying it’s wildly inappropriate. I also realise that I’ve discussed this odd creative choice in a couple of recent articles. Nevertheless, it’s undoubtedly creepy, and an ill-fitting tone for a basketball video game teaser.

5. Ronnie 2K Gifts Us His Clothes (NBA 2K19)

On a lighter note, this is rather mundane compared to the other creepy things on this list. However, this is a whole different type of skin-crawling creepiness in basketball gaming. After the conclusion of the introductory story in NBA 2K19’s MyCAREER, there are some cutscenes here and there as AI befriends other players, and becomes a star in the league. Following an interview for NBA 2KTV with former host Rachel DeMita, Ronnie 2K shows up at your MyCOURT. No, that isn’t the creepy part yet; he was apparently invited! It’s his parting gift to you that’s hilariously weird, and not the kind of thing that you’d want from a casual acquaintance…or anyone, really.

Ronnie arrives in a grubby shirt and jeans, explaining that he was just fixing the 2K servers. On one hand, it’s kind of a cute self-referential joke given that gamers are always saying that to him. On the other hand, it’s lacking in self-awareness to make that joke while, you know, still having lousy servers. Things take a weird turn when Ronnie ducks off camera to get changed in your kitchen (as you do), and then leaves his dirty clothes behind when you’re done talking, offering them up as a gift. It’s not just limited to the cutscene either, as the shirt and jeans then appear in your inventory. A different shade of creepy compared to everything else, yes, but creepy nevertheless.

Do you recall any of these creepy tales and occurrences? Have you had any other experiences on the virtual hardwood that startled you or were weirdly discomforting? Let me know in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week so thanks for checking in, have a spooktacular Halloween, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.