On Friday, the National Basketball Players Association representatives approved the NBA’s 22-team format to complete the 2019-20 NBA season. The plan is for the NBA season to resume July 31 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, without fans in attendance.
There are still many details that need to be figured out in the coming weeks, and Shams Charania of The Athletic shared some details that were reportedly discussed on Friday’s conference call with player representatives.
According to Charania, the NBA is considering using NBA 2K video game sounds to pump in crowd noise. Charania adds that the NBA and NBPA are “still discussing creative opportunities.”
There could be crowd noise via NBA 2K video game sounds, but the NBA and NBPA is still discussing creative opportunities.
The idea of piped-in crowd noise to make up for empty arenas and stadiums has been debated in recent weeks. Many people have mocked the idea, so imagine how those people will react to using *video game* sounds for the crowd noise.
Los Angeles Clippers forward Montrezl Harrell — averaging 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds this season — tweeted in response to the idea, “Wtf I hope they not serious.”
Wtf I hope they not serious https://t.co/SVJ2rH1K8f
— َ (@monstatrezz) June 5, 2020
But this is the position we’re in with the COVID-19 pandemic, and if the NBA intends to pump in crowd noise, there really is some sense in looking into the NBA 2K route.
2K has been creating highly popular and successful NBA video games for over 20 years. They have spent many, many hours over the years trying to create an authentic arena audio experience. Even if the NBA doesn’t go with NBA 2K sounds, maybe they can at least learn a thing or two from the video game’s creators.
