NBA 2K and ESPN recently announced that they will be live streaming a 16-player single-elimination tournament beginning on Friday. Here’s the case for Grayson Allen to represent the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2K tournament.
Despite the recent season hiatus, Grayson Allen hasn’t been seen on an NBA court since January 24th in the Memphis Grizzlies win over the Detroit Pistons due to an unfortunate injury.
During that time, it’s reasonable to assume that Allen has been partaking in one of his favorite off-court past times: video games.
Allen is known throughout the league as a voracious video game player, and his love of games has presumably been one of the few things he’s done to keep sane during this period of inactivity. Not only that, but this hiatus has shown us that Allen’s name is basically synonymous with video game proficiency, at least in the Grizzlies locker room.
https://twitter.com/1Tyus/status/1238637306254446592
All of this just makes the fact that Allen isn’t featured in the 2K Sports 16-player tournament all the more head scratching. The tournament, whose seeding was announced on Tuesday, features well known players from both conferences and is set to premiere on ESPN at 6 pm CST.
https://twitter.com/NBA2K/status/1245101279732305920
The most confusing part to this whole tournament is that it features players who aren’t particularly know for being avid video game players such as Patrick Beverley and Andre Drummond. The tournament also features DeMarcus Cousins who, while still showing promise during his stint on the Golden State Warriors, isn’t currently on an NBA roster and hasn’t played a game all season.
Allen could easily be a part of this tournament, and seeing him go up against some of the best gamers in the league like Devin Booker, Zach LaVine, and Kevin Durant. ESPN and 2K Sports really seemed to miss a golden opportunity to have the most exciting tournament possible, and we can only hope that he was offered a spot and declined. Though, considering Allen has been live-streaming himself playing video games during this hiatus, that’s unlikely.
Allen wasn’t the only gamer in the league that was left out. Meyers Leonard was also left off the tournament, and considering the friendly rivalry that might be growing between the two of them, that would almost be must-see TV. Either way, hopefully this tournament is something the league will continue to support, and we can get another one soon, with Allen in it.