Growing up, most NBA stars dream of running from 2K MT the tube and into a massive arena filled with thousands of fans roaring. Perhaps the only thrill that may rival realizing your dream of making it into the pros would be to buy the most recent edition of NBA2K to watch yourself in the video game that you played growing up. Although it may seem insignificant, there is a sense of coming full circle. But not a single WNBA participant had until recently. When NBA 2K20 was released in 2019, it was the first time the annual match -- which thrived in 1999 -- showcased WNBA players. Her predecessors didn't get the chance to perform as themselves, but Washington Mystics wing Aerial Powers couldn't help but make a comparison when she played herself. "This is probably how the men feel when they get in the league and they get a chance to play themselves on 2K," she said. "It is just surreal and is pretty enjoyable."
"I'd have never thought they'd apply girls into the match," Powers told USA TODAY Sports. "Even though I feel like we ought to be in there." Dallas Wings shield Allisha Gray was enjoying 2K because Shaquille O'Neal graced the cover at 2005, and she has difficulty believing that she is a part of it. "I never would have imagined seeing myself at a video game," Gray explained. Alexis Jones, who had been waived by the Atlanta Fantasy in August, has always enjoyed making her own participant on 2K and tends to mold his match after her very own. This will be the first year she will not need to create herself in the image of a man.
"This was my fantasy come true, '' I don't know about everybody else," Jones said. "I know that is one thing that I always dreamed of as a little woman -- to be in a 2K game. This chance to make yourself and build yourself as well as a girl is dope." The importance of building your own WNBA player can not be overstated, especially for young women who aspire to play basketball or are just fans of this sport. "I think it's astonishing that little girls can develop and actually play the game and understand that they can have the very same goals and accomplishments as guys," Jones said. Powers echoed the sentiment and how significant representation is for young women. She wants to see more advancement together with girls in the video game industry in general.
Powers flows and plays video games on Twitch and is now particularly active in gaming since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She even hosted an all-female 2K tournament in October that included a 30-minute opening musical group by Grammy Award winning performer DJ Jazzy Jeff. The stream garnered over 26,000 audiences. The 2019 WNBA champion says if she plays video games online she is sometimes satisfied with misogynistic messages from other users, and she hopes that new modes such as"The W" will make it easier for women playing video games. "It kind of gives the younger girls a fantastic look and says,'Hey, it's alright to Buy NBA 2K21 MT Coins be a female, such as basketball and want to playwith,' because I understand some of their male friends may have a different opinion," Powers explained. "But if you see the women from the game, it is like,'Hey, that is all right.'"