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 Part 5 in an ongoing series where I look at players who only appeared on certain teams in video games.

As much as I enjoy talking about the gameplay experience and all the ins and outs of modes in basketball video games, I also love player-related trivia. Forgive me for dusting off a phrase that I probably use way too much, but old sim games do act as interactive almanacs. Just as re-watching old games and highlights can trigger our memories of unusual and forgotten stints, so too can browsing the rosters in video games from many years ago. It’s one of the fun parts of retro basketball gaming for me, and it can lead down a rabbit hole of researching old lineups and transactions.

I have several features where I reflect on unusual and noteworthy stints for players, be they stars, journeyman role players, or benchwarmers. It’s fun to look back at familiar faces in strange and familiar places through the lens of basketball video games, as well as other oddities such as returns to teams that were over before they began. As evident from this article being a Part 5, I’ve also been reflecting on several players who only ever saw court time for a specific team on the virtual hardwood. This has usually been due to injuries, or the timing of transactions related to the release of video games and their roster updates. Either way, they’re interesting to look back on!

1. Juwan Howard (Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA Live 08, NBA 08 & NBA 2K8)

One of the most interesting phenomena that I’ve observed in all my years as a fan of the NBA is how players will spend several years with their first team, only to begin bouncing around the league following their first trade. I wonder if from the players’ perspective, it shatters any illusion and interest in loyalty, while teams no longer view them as untradeable. Whatever the case may be, it certainly seems as though players are more willing to change teams, and teams are more open to trading them, after that first move. I’d say that describes Juwan Howard’s career path after he was traded in the middle of his seventh season in Washington, as the Wizards trimmed their payroll.

None of Howard’s subsequent stints lasted as long as his Bullets/Wizards tenure, but the final two of his three years with the Heat yielded championship rings. As for his initial departure from Washington, Howard was traded to the Mavericks, and then traded again to the Nuggets a year later. He repeated this pattern in 2007 and 2008, becoming a familiar face back in a familiar place twice over when he signed with the Mavs and Nuggets in consecutive offseasons. Prior to his return to Dallas, he was traded from the Rockets to the Timberwolves, and later cut. While he never played for Minnesota, he’s on their roster by default in NBA Live 08, NBA 2K8, and NBA 08.

2. Coby Karl (Denver Nuggets, NBA 2K10 & 2K11)

It wasn’t until January 16th, 2015 that an NBA player played for their father, when Austin Rivers suited up for the Clippers while Doc was coaching them. It almost happened some five years earlier though, as the Denver Nuggets signed head coach George Karl’s son Coby in April 2010, with roster updates adding him to the team in NBA 2K10. Coby had briefly played for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008, and also had short stints with the Cavaliers and Warriors in 2009-2010. He never played for the Nuggets and was cut in August, well before training camp and the preseason. However, he was still in Denver when NBA 2K11’s default roster was finalised.

To that end, while Doc and Austin Rivers are officially the first father and son to be head coach and player in the NBA, George and Coby Karl can claim the honour on the virtual hardwood. As his father was on a leave of absence receiving treatment for neck and throat cancer during that short stint, there was never actually a time that Coby could’ve suited up while George was on the sideline, and his release put an end to the possibility. Coby himself is also a cancer survivor, having received successful treatment while at Boise State. He’s since followed in his father’s footsteps as a coach, and as of this writing, is currently helming the Delaware Blue Coats in the G League.

3. John Amaechi (Houston Rockets, NBA Live 2004)

Since NBA Live 96 PC was the first game in the series I owned – the Super Nintendo version of NBA Live 95 was originally a frequent video store rental – I have vivid memories of John Amaechi playing for the Cavaliers on the virtual hardwood. As I began making my own roster updates circa 1997, he was a player that I frequently overwrote, as he played overseas until finally returning to the NBA in 2000. Since I maintained a 2001 season update for NBA Live 96 PC, I had to restore his virtual counterpart that year. Moving on to newer games in the years that followed, I grew used to seeing his name on the rosters for the Orlando Magic, and then the Utah Jazz.

It’s been a long time since I maintained a current roster update for NBA Live 2004, so I often forget that following his second year with the Jazz, Amaechi signed with the Houston Rockets. I’m sure I’m not alone in overlooking that stint, as he didn’t play a single game for them despite being healthy and available. He was traded to the Knicks in December and then bought out of his contract in January; moves that I made while maintaining those rosters. The offseason trade to Houston was reflected in the default rosters of NBA Live 2004, though he was still in Utah in ESPN NBA Basketball (aka NBA 2K4). Amaechi’s presence in NBA Live 2004 PC was useful for my 1996 roster.

4. Stephen Jackson (Phoenix Suns, NBA Live 98)

Although Stephen Jackson was a young swingman with plenty of promise when he debuted with the NBA basement-dwelling New Jersey Nets in 2000-2001, he was not a member of the Draft Class of 2000. Jackson was originally drafted by the Phoenix Suns in the second round of the 1997 Draft, as a nineteen year old out of community college. He was cut in October, the day before the 1998 season tipped off. He spent the next three years playing in the Continental Basketball Association, and had stints in Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and the NBL here in Australia. He was also briefly signed by the then-Vancouver Grizzlies, before finally debuting for the Nets.

Jackson’s signing with the Suns after they drafted him happened early enough for him to be included in the PC version of NBA Live 98. On top of giving him a stint that’s exclusive to video games as far as on-court action, it makes him another player that debuted on the virtual hardwood well before his first official NBA minute. At the time, he was just a second rounder that didn’t make the cut; another player seemingly destined to be someone who appeared in more video games than NBA games. When we look back on that appearance in NBA Live 98 now, it underscores that the road to the NBA can be long and tough, but many success stories begin with forgotten stints.

5. Jerome James (Chicago Bulls, NBA Live 09 & 10, NBA 2K9 & NBA 2K10)

There are a couple of things that Jerome James is noteworthy for. He shares the record for the largest shoe in NBA history: size 22, which made my size 11 Air Jordan Vs look extraordinarily small when I took this photo on our Madison Square Garden tour during the NBA Live 08 Community Event. More infamously however, he’s regarded as one of the biggest free agent blunders of his era. Impressed by his solid (but by no means stellar) performance for the Seattle SuperSonics in the 2005 Playoffs, then-New York Knicks President of Basketball Operations Isiah Thomas signed James to a five year, $30 million contract. That may seem small now, but it was huge at the time.

Unfortunately for the Knicks, it wasn’t a contract that James could live up to. Not only had Thomas overestimated his abilities, but James was also frequently injured. He was eventually acquired by the Chicago Bulls in the trade that sent Larry Hughes to New York, but he never played a minute for them. Nevertheless, he was officially on their roster until he was waived towards the end of the 2010 season. Roster updates placed him on the Bulls in NBA Live 09 and NBA 2K9, and he could still be found in Chicago in NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10 during his tenure. I’m guessing he wasn’t a core part of most gamers’ rotations, but it’s nevertheless a game-exclusive appearance.

There are other examples of players who only appeared on certain teams in video games, which I’ll be getting to in future articles. In the meantime, do you remember any of these stints? Are there other examples that come to mind for you that I haven’t covered yet? 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 great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.