Spotlight: Sports Games’ Career Modes Part 1: NBA 2K

One thing that you may or may not know about me is that I love sports, and I have since I was a kid. My brother and sister were always playing basketball, football or swimming. I, being a person with disabilities, couldn’t participate in most sports I loved. That’s where my love of sports video games started: if I couldn’t be an active participant, I could at least put myself in a video game! And I did, many times. My favorite thing to do in those older games was to fire up NCAA March Madness for the PS2, make the shortest player possible (in this case 5 foot even) and max out his attributes and watch him make a mockery of college basketball. Of course I named him after myself! As time wore on and these games advanced, they allowed players to simulate an actual professional career trajectory. I think Madden 06 was the first sports game to do this. You would create a player, he would get drafted to a random team, then you’d build him up through performance in practices and games. This long-haul, role-playing style approach is ubiquitous in sports games today, and in this series of posts I want to talk about 2 games that do it exceptionally well, at least in my view. MLB The Show 21 continues a no-frills approach that works. Give the player all the options for their backstory, unlike NBA 2K’s approach, which is a big-budget, often cringe-worthy story that puts you in a box. It gives you very little room for creative freedom and since the characters are fully acted via motion capture, it strips the personality from your character. However, games like NBA 2K21 Next Gen redeem that somewhat by giving you options that affect your experience on the court.

After playing through high school, your character is given the option to either go to college or go to the NBA G League, the developmental league for the NBA. I chose to go to college, and I chose Villanova, simply because the Big East is competitive from top to bottom and Jay Wright’s one of my favorite college basketball coaches right now! Not that any of that matters, since neither of those things are in the game! After 2 seasons of on court development and generally being a transcendent talent in the world of college basketball, Fausto Larsson got drafted to the Indiana Pacers, my personal favorite NBA team, along with Hendrix Cobb, some dude who was apparently Fausto’s high school rival and this generational talent. That’s my problem with these stories, why do we need a friend who eventually turns into this basketball demigod as a rival? Why can’t this just be our own story, like in older 2K games? The parts where the game is hands off narrative wise are my favorite parts of the game anyway! For instance, Fausto played out his rookie deal in Indiana with little help from his supporting cast. Players I expected to help (TJ Warren, Caris Levert) did not, and so Fausto had to shoulder most of the scoring load himself. My top choices in free agency were the Bucks and the Lakers, because of their transcendent superstars. But ultimately I went with the Bucks because Giannis Antetokounmpo was younger, taller and the Bucks had already a solid core built around him. The only thing they were missing, according to the media and observers from around the league, was a solid point guard, which they have in Jrue Holiday, but that’s beside the point! Fausto provided that for them, as coming into the NBA Draft he was compared to Russell Westbrook and Ja Morant, aggressive scorers and all around threats; basically nightmares for the opposition. And when Fausto and Giannis play on the court together, basically the second incarnation of Shaq and Kobe. Giannis grabs every single rebound that comes off the glass, blocks and contests shots, and plays incredible defense. But he’s even better in the pick and roll! My go to play is to get the ball at the top of the key and call for Giannis to set a pick. I can then either take the open shot when he rolls to the basket, or pass it to him normally, or (and this is my favorite thing to do) alley oop it to him for the easy slam! This also comes at the expense of leaving Fausto open for 3 where he is lethal, or leaving the lane open for a thunderous dunk or a layup even through contact! And even if you shut down those two, there are shooters aplenty on this Bucks team, including Terence Davis and Khris Middleton. If you leave them open, you will pay for it! With this combination, the Bucks steamrolled their way to a 62-20 record, a number one seed in the Eastern Conference, and a first round sweep of 8 seeded Atlanta (our strategy, much like stopping the mid 80s Chicago Bulls, was to let Trae Young get whatever he wanted and make the rest of the team beat us). Our road to the championship however, was blocked by the Miami Heat. They had too many weapons, Bam Adebayo in particular was one of the most annoying players to play against. He would block shots, rebound the ball incredibly well, hit the mid-range jumper and be a target for Miami’s many alley-oop attempts. The other players around him were too effective to keep in check, no matter what we would try. Tyler Herro, and Jimmy Butler proved too much of a challenge for me personally to defend, and we lost the series in 6 games. But this was just gearing up for the grudge match a year later.

A year goes by, we have a great record, we sweep Atlanta again in the first round, and we’re gearing up to face Miami in the second round. This time, they brought Lonzo Ball into the fold, and therefore another offensive weapon to terrorize our stout defense. But miraculously, we sweep them. And then we sweep Brooklyn in the next round. And then we sweep New Orleans to win our first championship, before the Bucks did so against Phoenix in real life. That was a proper sweep, Fausto wasn’t able to be contained by the Pelicans’ defense, and carved them up with his efficient shooting and passing, averaging over 40 points and a double-double with double digit assists, taking home a Finals MVP trophy in the process. The job, as Kobe liked to say, was not finished. We wanted more!
That next season, we didn’t rebuild or reload, we just ran it back! Fausto again put up stellar numbers, being named All Star Captain, which was a really awesome experience. For those who don’t know, the NBA overhauled their All Star Game procedure a few years ago. Instead of having teams based on each conference, the two top vote getters are elected captains and get to draft their team. Here’s how I went about selecting the team:

Giannis was a no-brainer, he’s my guy and he’s a really great player. Kevin Durant, the 6’12 (Not 7 feet, mind you) forward can shoot spot-up shots or create off the dribble, and thanks to his wingspan, can defend and rebound with the best of them! Jayson Tatum is similar to Durant, with his instant offense being an asset to the team. Nikola Jokic needs no introduction, he’s a walking triple double threat and the 2021 MVP. A big man with guard skills, he proved an asset to us with his size, and good jumper! As for the bench, I tried to fill it out with players with similar skillsets to our starters, plus size in Embiid and Ayton. That auto-generated guy, Brent Wagner plays for Indiana, and is basically a stretch 5, who can shoot and rebound and finish inside; when we play the Pacers he usually keeps those games reasonably close. I played to win from the jump, setting a different tone compared to other All Star Games, eventually winning, and recording a double double with 32 points, and 13 assists! A dominant showing from proven superstars to be sure!

Come playoff time, we were once again the first seed, matched up against Cleveland. They deployed a 3 center rotation, starting Jarret Allen and Andre Drummond at the power forward and center spots, and bringing in Clint Capela off the bench! Needless to say, this created matchup problems, and they outrebounded us in the first game, despite us being victorious. Some games were closer than others, and they gave us a scare, but we eventually got it done, sweeping the Cavaliers in 4 games. Subsequent playoff victories against longtime playoff adversaries Atlanta and Miami ensured a shot at a repeat title. But in this Finals we went up against a new foe, Ja Morant and the Memphis Grizzlies!

The first game, we won, but Morant was on another level, scoring at least 30 points by halftime! We didn’t have an answer for him defensively but pushing the pace on offense allowed us to eke out a close win! The second game, however, was a different story.

We mixed it up on defense, instead of playing man-to-man, we shifted into a zone. Now, for the uninitiated, a zone defense (usually consisting of 2 players in the front and 3 players near the basket, though variations do exist) is a team oriented defense designed to clog the painted area, and leave the perimeter pretty much open. Since nobody besides Ja Morant could shoot the three with any consistency, I would gladly give up the occasional 3 for the sake of locking up their best player, though on the odd occasion he did score, we locked him up with a half court trap, forcing him to give up the ball, and double teaming him as soon as he crossed the half-court line! This worked, with some…notable exceptions:

Pictured: Fausto gets put on a poster

There’s only so much one superstar can do without any support, and that is precisely why we swept the Grizzlies in 4 games. Our supporting cast was greater than theirs and that made the difference. Nikola Vucevic, Kevin Huerter, the story of Fausto Larsson cannot be written without them! But like all stories, they have to end somehow…

Michael Jordan retired with 3 championships in the fall of 1993, after the murder of his father. But he had privately discussed retirement with his father before the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. Everyone knows when it’s time to hang em’ up, and I decided Fausto was going to retire with a 3rd straight ring, like Jordan did!
Having gone 69-13 and winning a 4th straight MVP and making his fifth straight all star appearance, Fausto and the rest of the team were in top form, thanks to the addition of guard Anthony Edwards, in real life on the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he decided to not sign with them after his rookie deal expired and signed with us instead. He brought immediate star power, as a great slashing finisher and an alright shooter, relegating Kevin Huerter to the bench. It came to be playoff time, and in the first round we were matched up against the 8th seeded Detroit Pistons who had one superstar, and a transcendent one at that:

Yes, that’s Stephen Curry. The man who revolutionized basketball at all levels, turning the three pointer into a weapon and blurring the concept of “good shots” and “bad shots”. He is the originator of Limitless Range. Instead of taking another 5 year “super-max” extension with the Warriors, he opted to go to Detroit. And he was effective, but as we established, one guy isn’t going to carry the team, and we quickly dispatched them in 4 games.

In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, we met up with my old team Indiana. Brent Wagner was there, as was my old foe Lonzo Ball and my new foe, Zach Lavine. Game 1 was a close battle. We couldn’t make shots or grab rebounds or stop them from making shots, and they were up double digits at one point, but miraculously we clawed our way back, as we often do. Game 2 saw us change up the strategy somewhat. I wanted to do whatever I could to put the pressure on the defense and not let up, until the game was in hand. This was effective and saw us cruise to an easy win, and eventually led to our ousting of Indiana in 4 games.

The Eastern Conference Finals were against a surprising opponent in Boston. They just seemed to be the Celtics as they are now, with minor additions including former Pacer Myles Turner. The scoring tandem of Jalen Brown and Jayson Tatum remained a threat and remained intact, but we swept them in 4 games, because they were the entire offense! Next up, the NBA Finals, which saw us facing a familiar foe…

The Los Angeles Lakers cruised through the Western Conference Playoffs on the back of a superstar scorer and a big man who’s changing the game. No, not Lebron James and Anthony Davis, Lebron was long retired, and Anthony Davis went to another team. I’m talking about Klay Thompson and Bol Bol!

Yes, this seemed like an easy series, and it was! I think the only really scary moment was in game 2 when we were down 8-0 early in the game but we really held together and stuck it out for another sweep, in which Fausto averaged 50 points, to claim a 3rd straight championship!

Fausto’s resume was already staggering with many MVPs and All Star game nods. Just take a look at this:

There was the matter of free agency to take care of, however. I felt as though Fausto was worth “max-contract” money. I mean, when you have a guy averaging 40 points and 9 assists pretty consistently you’d want to keep him, right? Apparently, Milwaukee’s front office didn’t think so and after unsuccessful negotiations, they pulled their offer. Fausto promptly signed a contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, but I knew that once Giannis left for the Knicks (seriously, look!):

I knew then that Fausto had to hang them up! And off in the sunset he went. His resume might not seem like much but the final career numbers in terms of average are eye-popping:

That career points per game average puts him first all time ahead of Michael Jordan’s 30.1! That 22-23 season where he averaged 39.5 points per game? That’s good enough for the second highest average in NBA history, ahead of Jordan’s 37.1 he averaged in 1986-87, and behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 50 points he averaged in 61-62! He finished with the most points scored in a playoff game, with 65, again ahead of Jordan’s 63. You can make a case that Fausto is the greatest pure scorer in NBA history with numbers like that, but there also was a year that he averaged 10 assists, and he was all defense twice! Truly a multi-faceted superstar. He has a similar resume to NBA legend and hall-of-famer Connie Hawkins. After Hawkins was falsely implicated in a point shaving scandal while at Iowa, he was effectively blackballed and played in smaller leagues, such as the ABL and ABA, before the NBA begrudgingly admitted him in 1968-69. Although out of his prime for much of his NBA career, Hawkins still put up stellar numbers for Phoenix in his first few seasons in the NBA, carrying them to a Western Conference Finals berth in 1969. Injuries hampered much of his playing career however, and he retired after 7 seasons in the NBA. Fausto wasn’t blackballed, or bitten by the injury bug, I just thought it became too easy for him and he needed to move on to greater challenges and bigger and better things. Or maybe I was just bored and wanted to play a different game!

In my opinion, NBA 2K and other sports games are at their best when the narrative doesn’t box you in. It’s a microcosm of what I love about sports. There are little narratives everywhere you look, whether on a macro level (season to season, week to week) or on a micro level (play to play, period to period). Most sports games seem to have this figured out, and they often let the drama of the game and its surrounding facets speak for itself. I made Fausto team up with the Bucks, they went out and got Nikola Vucevic and Anthony Edwards, and we won a few championships, and looked good doing it. Madden wouldn’t do that because EA doesn’t care about providing a quality sports experience. But 2K, for all its faults and cringe-worthy stories, understands a little bit about what the fans want, and in my opinion it was a very worthwhile experience!

Fausto Larsson will return in NBA 2K22