Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five recalls five times that I encountered real life moves being made by CPU-controlled teams in my games.

One of the oldest Wishlist requests when it comes to franchise modes is that they feature realistic player movement. This is actually an interesting concept, because many of the moves that we see in real life would probably be considered unrealistic if they occurred in a franchise or career mode game! Teams frequently don’t get equal value when they trade big name players, as the circumstances that result in superstar for superstar swaps are generally rare. Familiar faces end up in strange places, there are unexpected reunions, and loyalty between teams and players is often eroded.

With that in mind, with so many deals that once seemed so unlikely, who’s to say what constitutes realistic player movement in a video game? In fact, I’ve encountered moves made by CPU-controlled teams that, if they hadn’t happened in real life, would probably strike me as unrealistic. Indeed, playing through five seasons and counting in NBA 2K14 PS4’s MyCAREER has resulted in a number of such moves! They may differ in terms of the exact players involved and when they occurred, but the game’s trade and free agency logic still made moves that it couldn’t have known were coming when it was released. Here are five examples of my games imitating real life moves.

1. LeBron James Leaves for Los Angeles (NBA 2K14 MyCAREER)

Let’s begin with one of the biggest names and biggest coincidences as far as real moves that made their way into my games. LeBron James was NBA 2K14’s cover player, and the game has ultimately proven to be eerily prophetic about his career. The prior gen/PC version of the game featured the “Path to Greatness” mode, which included a “Fantastic Journey” path that saw LeBron leave Miami in 2014, head to another big market, and even return to Cleveland. His career hasn’t played out exactly as it did in that mode, but in broad strokes, it did provide a glimpse into the future! It wouldn’t be the last time that NBA 2K14 got it right with LeBron’s NBA journey.

Entering my second season in MyCAREER in the PlayStation 4 version of the game, I was quite surprised to see LeBron take his talents from South Beach to Hollywood, where he teamed up with an aging Kobe Bryant. Now, LeBron landing in LA didn’t go down quite that way, but he did indeed become a Laker, which I doubt anyone was expecting back when NBA 2K14 was released. This doesn’t count as a prediction of course since Video Game James signed with the Lakers in 2014 and in a MyCAREER that I was playing in 2021, while the real LeBron went to LA in 2018. Still, it’s wild that NBA 2K14 MyCAREER imitated a huge move that had happened in the interim.

2. Spencer Hawes to Cleveland (NBA 2K14 MyCAREER)

It may sound silly, but in all of my MyCAREER games, I’ve grown to enjoy playing with certain players. It’s fun to have them on the roster, and as we win virtual titles together, they become part of the role-playing experience. As such, it’s a bummer when they move on, either due to retiring, signing elsewhere, or getting traded. At the same time, I like how that’s another way that the NBA side of MyCAREER puts us in the shoes of an NBA player. One of the first teammates I “lost” during my five years and counting in NBA 2K14 MyCAREER was Spencer Hawes, after the team decided to trade him to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Tristan Thompson during the 2016 season.

As it happens, the real Philadelphia 76ers did trade Spencer Hawes to the Cavaliers; in fact, they did so during the 2014 season, in which NBA 2K14 is set! I’d forgotten about that, most likely because I’d stopped making roster updates at that point. The real move wasn’t nearly as exciting as the one in my MyCAREER, and of course Tristan Thompson’s original Cleveland stint lasted until 2020, allowing him to play a key role in their 2016 championship. Mind you, he was still a champion in 2016 on the virtual hardwood, thanks to that belated Hawes trade! It was the first of two real moves that the 76ers have made in my MyCAREER, but that’s a tale for another time.

3. Jeff Green Signs With Cleveland (NBA 2K14 MyCAREER)

Speaking of players that have become Cavaliers since 2013 in both my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER and real life, that also includes Jeff Green. In real life, that happened in the 2018 season, with Green signing a one-year deal with Cleveland to become a solid contributor off the bench for a team that went to their fourth consecutive NBA Finals. In my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, Jeff continued to wear Celtics green through to the end of that same season, finally moving on in the 2018 offseason after an extended stint in Boston. Still, that’s a lot closer to occurring at the same point in time in the alternate history that my MyCAREER game is writing, so that’s a fun coincidence.

At the same time, the different paths of the real and virtual Jeff Greens demonstrates that players didn’t really move around enough in the PS4/X1 version of NBA 2K14 MyCAREER. While virtual Green had a lengthy stint with the Celtics, the real Jeff was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in January 2015. Over the next few years, he played for the Grizzlies, Los Angeles Clippers, and Orlando Magic before arriving in Cleveland. As much fun as I’ve had playing into my sixth season in that MyCAREER, and as entertaining as it’s been to see some real moves occur, teams were way too eager to hold onto players, and players weren’t ambitious enough about moving on.

4. Danny Granger to Miami (NBA 2K14 MyCAREER)

Considering that Paul George’s years with the Indiana Pacers are becoming a distant memory, Danny Granger’s time as the team’s up-and-coming new star is truly ancient history, only recalled by long-time NBA fans. Fewer still may recall that the Granger and George eras actually overlap! Granger peaked in 2009 when he averaged 25.8 ppg, and was named to his only All-Star team. Although he never reached the same heights after that, the knee problems that derailed and ultimately prematurely ended his career didn’t begin until 2012. Fortunately for the Pacers, George’s ascent had begun by that point. Unfortunately for Granger, this made him rather expendable.

And so, despite being a fan favourite, Granger was traded to Philadelphia in February 2014. The 76ers released him so that he could sign with the Clippers; coincidentally, the team that George now plays for. He signed a multi-year deal with the Miami Heat in 2014 with an eye towards continuing his career, but played his final NBA game in February that year, before being traded to the Phoenix Suns. Granger also made his way to Miami in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, albeit during the 2016 offseason. That stint lasted for two years, giving him a considerably longer NBA career on the virtual hardwood, without so many nagging knee injuries keeping him out of the lineup.

5. Nikola Vucevic to Chicago (NBA 2K14 MyCAREER)

When the real Chicago Bulls traded Wendell Carter Jr. for Nikola Vucevic, I was a fan of the deal, figuring that the team would finally starting making the shrewd moves they’d failed to pull off under GarPax. Things haven’t gone exactly to plan since then, but I still believe it’s a better move than the previous regime would’ve ever made in that situation. And, if nothing else, it ended up being another move that would be replicated in my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER, with Vooch finding his way to the Windy City after a long stint in Orlando. It wasn’t quite as long as in real life though, with his virtual Magic tenure drawing to a close in the 2017 offseason rather than March 2021.

To that end, virtual Vooch was also a free agent signee, rather than being acquired via a trade. Once again though, none of these real moves went down exactly when and how they did in our world, but they nevertheless injected some reality into my game. This one in particular is fun as it involves my favourite team and a move that I was optimistic about – and honestly, one I still don’t hate – which also happened to occur the same year that I got hooked on NBA 2K14 MyCAREER. With that in mind, none of these moves were predictions as they happened in real life first, but I enjoy that art coincidentally imitated life. They’re fun to see on top of fictional trades and signings.

Which real life player moves have happened on the CPU-controlled teams in your franchise and career mode games? Did any of them happen before they did in reality, essentially making them a correct prediction? Tell me your stories in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

The post The Friday Five: 5 Times My Games Imitated Real Moves appeared first on NLSC.