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 side effects of players going unlicensed, some of which you may not be aware of.

The vast array of historical content in NBA 2K is more than we could’ve dreamed of in the late 90s and early 2000s. Even the Legends and All-Decade teams that came along in NBA Live 2000 were obviously a big deal in their day. While there are issues with accuracy and detail, having retro content in the games is better than not having it at all. With that being said, players that remain unlicensed are definitely conspicuous by their absence. I’m sure that you’re aware of the key names, with Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, and Rasheed Wallace, being among the most frequently mentioned.

Their absence has an obvious effect on the historical content that has been included, and what can’t be included. The 2000 Portland Trail Blazers and 2004 Detroit Pistons don’t look complete without Sheed in the lineup. We didn’t get any challenges based on the 1993 NBA Finals in The Jordan Challenge, as they’d be pointless without Sir Charles. As it stands, the ’85 76ers were an oddball retro team, as Chuck was a rookie on that squad. There are other teams that won’t be officially included because Miller, Barkley, and other players are unlicensed. That’s widely known and understood, but there are other side effects of 2K being unable to come to terms with certain players.

1. Blank Names in Records Screens

These days, NBA 2K is far too mainstream to try and pull what Konami did with unlicensed players in NBA in the Zone 2, or what EA Sports attempted with the placeholder historical players in NCAA March Madness 08 and NCAA Basketball 09. There’s no way that they can include “Roster Forward #34” on the All-Time Phoenix Suns, with a face that is clearly meant to be Charles Barkley, and think that they can get away with it. On top of any likenesses, they’ve also had to be careful with simply using the names of unlicensed players. This is why if you look at the NBA and Team Records screens in some games, there are no names next to many of those records.

I believe the laws are, or have perhaps become, more lenient in this regard. Some of the more recent titles have listed players on the records screens even when they aren’t playable (Charles Barkley being one). Regardless, 2K has understandably been very cautious about this, as there have been several lawsuits over the use of unlicensed players in NBA and other sports games. While it’s unfortunate, we’ve sometimes been able to fix those records ourselves with mods on PC. Otherwise, it’s incentive to break those records with contemporary players – or perhaps our MyPLAYER – etching a new name into the league and team record books that won’t cause any legal kerfuffle.

2. Games Are Less Effective As Teaching Tools

This may be an exercise in futility, given the whole “plumbers and dentists” rhetoric that pollutes NBA discourse these days. It’s far more fashionable to sneer at “old heads” and dump on past eras than it is to learn about and develop an appreciation for NBA history. And yes, I realise that me saying that invites said sneers of “old head”. Nevertheless, I still believe that video games can be an effective way of learning about NBA history for those who are interested. It’s difficult to represent the great teams and noteworthy names of the past when there are unlicensed players though, from Hall of Famers to key players who deserve to be remembered in their own right.

Granted, this isn’t the only way that the historical content in NBA 2K comes up short as a teaching tool. As I noted above, there are many inaccuracies with ratings and tendencies that misrepresent retro players. I’m not just talking about the intentionally fudged ratings of OP MyTEAM cards, either. Through carelessness and clear copy and paste jobs, there are so many players with inaccurate attributes and animations throughout the roster of classic teams. Obviously there are roadblocks when it comes to the unlicensed players, but the least they could do is properly represent the players they have contracted to appear in the games. It makes them far more fun to play with.

3. Missing Banners in the Rafters

Similar to missing names in the virtual record books, unlicensed players have had an impact on the authenticity of virtual NBA arenas. Glance up into the rafters in various NBA Live and NBA 2K games, where championship banners and retired numbers hang, and you’ll notice that some of them are missing. In NBA Live, you’ll find that Michael Jordan’s number 23 is missing from the rafters of the United Center. NBA 2K has also had to occasionally remove banners related to players who are unlicensed, though thanks to the bevy of historical names that are under contract, their virtual rafters are more complete. There’s a reason the camera pans to them during games!

Needless to say, this isn’t a detail that greatly affects the gameplay experience. It’d be great to have that authenticity, but it pales in comparison to not being able to play with those players, or indeed, inaccurate arena details that are more apparent during gameplay. In a similar vein, in addition to unlicensed players and their banners, arenas in video games are affected by the ability to license their names, too. Although most arenas have their real branding, over the years some have not been licensed for use in NBA Live or NBA 2K, or one company has had exclusive rights to an arena name. If you’ve wondered why it’s Knicks Arena and not Madison Square Garden, that’s why.

4. Michael Jordan’s Intended Name-Only Presence in NBA Elite 11

Discussions of NBA Elite 11 understandably revolve around the controversial demo (particularly the “Jesus Bynum” glitch), its cancellation, and the lasting effect it had on the NBA Live series. To that end, some of the interesting ideas that were planned for its career mode – Become Legendary – don’t receive enough attention. Based on a marketing slogan for Jordan Brand, Become Legendary would’ve challenged gamers to replicate some of Michael Jordan’s feats and milestones in an attempt to put their own “fingerprints” on the league. There were also intriguing concepts such as bounce-back games, which would earn additional XP for a good performance after a bad one.

Of course, Michael Jordan himself wouldn’t be appearing in NBA Elite 11. He had signed on to be the cover player of NBA 2K11, with his career being celebrated by the aforementioned Jordan Challenge. As such, EA Sports weren’t able to license him in a playable capacity, meaning their flagship mode was built around the brand of a player who wasn’t in the game. Even if NBA Elite 11 had been a successful revamp of the NBA Live series, NBA 2K11 would’ve had a far better hook by virtue of actually including His Airness. It’s hardly the biggest disaster when it comes to NBA Elite 11, but it’s another example of how the tide had turned in favour of the NBA 2K series.

5. Kurtis Blow’s “Basketball” is Censored in NBA 2K12

I’m going to wrap up with the example that actually inspired this Five. Facing the prospect of being released in the midst of a lockout, NBA 2K12 doubled down on its retro content, following up The Jordan Challenge with NBA’s Greatest. They went all out on presentation that year, which on top of the retro filters during gameplay, also included a fantastic intro video set to that memorable hoops anthem, “Basketball” by Kurtis Blow. I’m sure I’m not alone in fondly remembering that. However, what you may have forgotten – as I certainly did until firing up the game again recently to get some screenshots – is that the version of “Basketball” in NBA 2K12 is censored!

Well, “censored” is probably an overly melodramatic way of putting it. The NBA 2K12 mix does omit some words though, including one use of the word “damn”. Far more interesting, however, is that a couple of names mentioned in the song have been edited out, as they’re references to unlicensed players. Now, I’m not sure if they were legally prohibited from mentioning them – after all, the NBA Live 2004 mix of “Right Thurr” had namedropped NBA Jam years before EA Sports owned it – or if the edits were just erring on the side of caution. In any case, names like Ralph Sampson and Cazzie Russell are edited out of the longer version that was used in NBA 2K12.

Can you recall any other occasionally overlooked side effects of players remaining unlicensed? 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.