As you may have heard (and will hear about 1,435,891 more times during the season) LeBron James has a choice to make next summer. He is expected to opt out of his contract and he can either re-sign with the Miami Heat or he can take his talents somewhere else.
When NBA 2K14 hits the shelves next month, gamers will get to use a mode that lets them peek into the future of a couple different potential outcomes from LeBron’s pending decision.
Eric Freeman at Ball Don’t Lie got to test it out and has all the details (you should read his entire post).As announced on Friday, “NBA 2K14" will include “LeBron: Path to Greatness,” a new game mode in which users get to play out the future of LeBron James all the way up until his retirement. In the first, less controversial path, James stays with the Heat, creating a dynasty to match any in league history. In the other, James bolts for the New York Knicks this summer in free agency, teams with various stars along the way, and finds himself in an eerily familiar yet absolutely fantastical iteration of the NBA. It’s basketball science fiction….
Essentially, 2K Sports has chartered two separate courses for LeBron’s career and allowed users to peek in at various points along the way, playing in various big games or facing off against newfound rivals. LeBron gets new teammates, loses athletic abilities as he gets older, and gains new skills. The gamer only has so much control and must play to a script, taking specific scenarios and getting rated on a five-star system based on their performance.
No, this does not allow you to send LeBron to the Cavaliers or the Lakers or the Bobcats or whoever. Mark Cuban would have paid extra for a Mavericks option there. However you do get to play out a couple of scenarios.
Which sounds like a fun little diversion. Clever idea by the folks at 2K Sports.
Just for the record, the Knicks most likely do not have the money to chase LeBron next summer, not without a lot of help. They would need Amare Stoudemire to decide he wants to surrender the $23.4 million last year of his contract and Andrea Bargnani to decide to opt out of the $11.5 million in the last year of his deal. Good luck with that. Yes you can create a scenario where the Knicks free up the cap space, but let’s just call those highly unlikely.
