Game developer 2K Sports must have its hands full with the nearly crazy movements in this year’s summer free agency in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in relation to making its latest roster update to the basketball simulation video game “NBA 2K16.”
Aside from the transfer of Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Golden State Warriors, there have been other major movements since the free agency began on July 1.
Among the major movements after Kevin Durant’s golden move to the Warriors include the move of Al Horford from the Atlanta Hawks to the Boston Celtics, the transfer of Derrick Rose from the Chicago Bulls to the New York Knicks, the signing of Joe Johnson with the Utah Jazz, the signing of Pau Gasol with the San Antonio Spurs from the Chicago Bulls, the move of Jeff Teague from the Atlanta Hawks to the Indiana Pacers, and the reported transfer of Dwyane Wade from the Miami Heat to the Chicago Bulls.
Of course, there are still a lot more player movements that somehow shook up the NBA teams’ roster all the more.
The last roster update made by 2K Games in the NBA was during the NBA Finals that lasted until June 22 so the complete roll of rosters for each team is now very different.
Even the 2015-16 NBA Champion, the Cleveland Cavaliers, lost two key players in their lineup including Matthew Dellavedova to the Milwaukee Bucks and Timothy Mozgov to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The strategy for 2K Games is to wait it out until the free agency market is officially closed within the month before it makes the complete roster update.
If any, it would also be good for the developer because it can still use the updated roster when it migrates it to the next iteration of the basketball simulation video game, the “NBA 2K17” which would be released on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One on September 20.
A legend retires
One key important roster update is the change in the Western powerhouse team of San Antonio Spurs because of the retirement of legend Tim Duncan just a few days ago.
According to Kotaku, the 19-year stint of Tim Duncan with the San Antonio Spurs was chronicled completely by 2K Games beginning with the “NBA Live 98” as his first video game appearance until “NBA 2K16.”
Duncan is the second major superstar to retire from the NBA this year after the decision of Kobe Bryant to hang up his jersey following the NBA 2015-16 regular season.
The Spurs big man was the No. 1 draft pick in the NBA 1997 draft by the San Antonio Spurs and has never switched team during his 19-year stint in the league.
With the retirement of Duncan and Bryant, the remaining list of active NBA players who have appeared in every 2K game has been whittled down to include Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, Paul Pierce, Dirk Nowitzki, and Nazr Mohammed, who was not active in the NBA this past season.
Latest locker codes
Incidentally, the developer has released new locker codes for “NBA 2K16” early this month, which means that the previous ones are no longer going to work now.
The new set of locker codes is updated with cool functionalities and better options for players, which would also be a good prelude for “NBA 2K17.”
“NBA 2K16” will be undergoing more roster changes and fans are already looking forward to playing with their favorite team’s latest acquisitions with trades, free agency, and draft picks, reports Movie News Guide.
The updated “NBA 2K16” roster shall apply to both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game. It is called as the “Embrace the Pace (ETP)” upgrade and also through a tool called “Professor 2K.”
Incidentally, the MyCareer mode of “NBA 2K16” has been directed by renowned director and actor Spike Lee, who is an avid New York Knicks fan.
About this time last year, the hype was saying that the MyCareer mode of “NBA 2K16” is going to be a game-changer but when the game finally rolled out to the PC and the gaming consoles in September last year, the feature fell below fan expectations.