Durant, Irving, Hayward - NBA All-Stars Play 2K18 & Fortnite Too
By Jesse Collins ·
The most open secret in video games is that celebrities play them. Basketball players are definitely putting their best foot forward, though, with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Gordon Hayward making recent news.
More and more popular Basketball players are jumping into the gaming fray. With basketball legends Rick Fox and Jared Jeffries heading up the popular esports team, Echo Fox, the craze began early. Meanwhile, currently-benched (due to injury) Boston Celtics small forward Gordon Hayward recent Fortnite streaming session when he played live with his daughter on his lap, drawing over 800,000 viewers. Now, Boston Celtics all-star Kyrie Irving and Golden State Warriors all-star Kevin Durant join the gaming phenomenon.
Live with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in The Neighborhood https://t.co/1bveg00pVI @KyrieIrving @KDTrey5
— Ronnie 2K 2K18 (@Ronnie2K) March 25, 2018
While Irving and Durant are both currently unable to play basketball due to injury, they have made headlines today by playing some NBA 2K18. This past Saturday, 2K Sports’ Digital Marketing Director Ronnie “Ronnie2K” Singh took Durant head on in some impromptu 2K18 3-on-3 matches. While Ronnie and Durant were playing, Irving had some fun talking smack and giving them crap during the commentary.
The game was live streamed on Twitch, but the highlights were cobbled together for an easier to digest YouTube video by Ronnie. All in all, it’s just another in a line of pro basketball players showing that they do what we all do in their free time.
While it’s not uncommon for sports players to play video games, it’s become a real, active phenomenon that basketball players have been leading the charge for gaming and esports. More recently, the Charlotte Hornets utilized the Fortnite loading screen to announce their starting lineup, while several NBA players have come out publicly as Fortnite players themselves. Even college team University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s men’s basketball team has credited a win recently to Fortnite. While they’re following the same Fortnite craze everyone else is right now, these players tend to root themselves into the game all about them too, NBA 2K. As it becomes more mainstream, I’m sure we’ll see more players in the future come out and play video games.