The NBA world is standing still as sports events are in hiatus due to the global quarantines. Due to that, 2K took the chance to organize an NBA players only tournament for their latest basketball title, the NBA 2K20 Players Only tournament. However, things went south when people started betting on the games since they were pre-recorded. Tough luck!
The 2K, the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) announced the “NBA 2K Players Tournament,” an NBA 2K20 gameplay tournament between 16 current NBA players. Since April 3 on ESPN and ESPN2, players like Kevin Durant and Zach Lavine compete in a single-elimination, player-only tournament. The catch? The whole tournament is pre-recorded.
Since sports events are postponed, for the time being, betting enthusiasts turn to esports for their daily “luck of the draw”. Unfortunately, the match results got leaked giving the chance to betters to make their money worth. This is a major step back for esports betting, as it tries to establish itself as a legit sport.
Since the NBA 2K20 Players Only tournament is a single-elimination event, it’s easy to go wild with betting. More so, if the matches are already over. SportsBetting.ag odds manager, Robert Cooper says about the leak:
“We initially made Durant the favorite to win the tournament, but he was taking very little action over the course of the first 24 hours. When we posted the first-round matchup lines and the bets were completely one-sided toward Jones Jr. It became obvious that someone knew the outcome of the game.”
The second round of NBA 2K20 Players Only airs today on ESPN and ESPN 2. You also have the chance to catch it live on Twitch. The winner’s prize will go to charity, while the event will open up the esports world to a bigger audience. We shall see what the impact of such tournaments will be as soon as the traditional sports events make a comeback.
