Basketball is an international game, and it’s growing.
Selling video games is an international business.
So maybe we shouldn’t be shocked by the news that the Euroleague has teamed up with the makers of NBA 2K14 to include 14 teams of the powerhouse overseas teams in the video game.
“We’re absolutely delighted to be able to welcome top Euroleague teams into the NBA 2K series,” said Jason Argent, senior vice president of sports operations for 2K Sports. “European basketball has an incredibly passionate following, and we’re all excited to give fans the opportunity to take on Europe’s best in NBA 2K14.”
So finally you can have Ricky Rubio or Pau Gasol playing against Barcelona. The teams included are from the Euroleague, which is a tournament matching 31 of the best club teams from across that continent against teach other (basically the equivalent of soccer’s Champions League).
Here are the 14 teams that will be part of the game:
• Alba Berlin
• FC Barcelona
• Real Madrid
• CSKA Moscow
• EA7 Emporio Armani Milano
• Montepaschi Siena
• Fenerbahçe Ülker Istanbul
• Anadolu Efes Istanbul
• Olympiacos Piraeus
• Panathinaikos Athens
• Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv
• Zalgiris Kaunas
• Unicaja Málaga
• Laboral Kutxa Vitoria
Go ahead and shrug if you want and say you liked it better when Jordan was on the cover. This is going to sell more NBA 2K14 games in Spain, Turkey, Italy, and Russia and so this move makes sense for the makers of the video game.
And actually, it should be fun to see if you can get Pavel Datsyuk to lead CSKA Moscow past LeBron James and the Heat.
