Sophia Michaels
Basketball fans’ desire to watch NBA players hoop during the league’s suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a whole lot of video games. The NBA 2K League held a tournament that featured NBA and WNBA players, among others, while ESPN is in the midst of a 2K tournament of its own.
What has been lacking, outside of replays of games, has been actual, live basketball. This is understandable, because that cannot happen until games can safely be played. A potential workaround, though, is reportedly being kicked around by the league and the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the two sides are in discussions about a H-O-R-S-E competition that would include some of the biggest names in the league.
The NBA and ESPN are working on televising a H-O-R-S-E competition involving several high-profile players, sources say. Players would shoot in isolation – presumably in home gyms – and match shots against competitors. Details are still being finalized.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 4, 2020
As Wojnarowski laid out, all of this is still being finalized, but it’s literally any sort of live basketball being played by professionals, which is much better than nothing. It also would not be the first time has leaned into the idea of a H-O-R-S-E competition, as it implemented one as an All-Star event in 2009 and 2010. Both were won by Kevin Durant, who beat Joe Johnson and O.J. Mayo during the first competition and Omri Casspi and Rajon Rondo in the second.
Written by: Uproxx
