Kevin Durant top seed for 'Players-Only' NBA 2K20 tournament on ESPN
The Nets' Kevin Durant looks on in the first half of an NBA game against the Suns at Barclays Center on Feb. 3. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Nets’ Kevin Durant is the top seed for the “NBA 2K Players Tournament,” a 16-player video game event that ESPN and ESPN2 will televise starting on Friday night.
The tournament will feature single-elimination games in the first rounds, then best-of-three series for the semifinals and final.
The winner can designate a $100,000 charitable donation from 2K, the NBA and the players’ association to benefit a COVID-19-related cause.
Seedings are based on players’ ratings for the game, with ties broken based on NBA tenure. Durant has a game rating of 96. He will face the No. 16 seed, the Heat’s Derrick Jones Jr. (78).
Here are the other first-round matchups:
No. 2 Trae Young (90) vs. No. 15 Harrison Barnes (78)
No. 3 Hassan Whiteside (87) vs. No. 14 Pat Beverley (78)
No. 4 Donovan Mitchell (87) vs. No. 13 Rui Hachimura (79)
No. 5 Devin Booker (86) vs. No. 12 Michael Porter Jr. (81)
No. 6 Andre Drummond (85) vs. No. 11 DeMarcus Cousins (81)
No. 7 Zach Lavine (85) vs. No. 10 DeAndre Ayton (85)
No. 8 Montrezl Harrell (85) vs. No. 9 Domantas Sabonis (85)
Every player will choose a pool of eight current NBA teams, and can use each team only once. If both players choose the same team, the away team gets first choice.
Coverage starts at 7 p.m. Friday on ESPN with the Durant vs. Jones matchup. Other games will premiere either on ESPN or ESPN2, with the final set for ESPN on April 11.
Kevin Durant’s ESPN show “The Boardroom” announced on Tuesday the lineup for its “Players-Only” NBA 2K20 tournament, which is scheduled to premiere on Friday.
Durant is the top seed for the 16-man event, with a game rating of 96. He will face the No. 16 seed, the Heat’s Derrick Jones Jr. (78).
Here are the other first-round matchups: No. 2 Trae Young (90) vs. No. 15 Harrison Barnes (78); No. 3 Hassan Whiteside (87) vs. No. 14 Patrick Beverley (78); No. 4 Donovan Mitchell (87) vs. No. 13 Rui Hachimura (79); No. 5 Devin Booker (86) vs. No. 12 Michael Porter Jr. (81); No. 6 Andre Drummond (85) vs. No. 11 DeMarcus Cousins (81); No. 7 Zach LaVine (85) vs. No. 10 DeAndre Ayton (85); No. 8 Montrezl Harrell (85) vs. No. 9 Domantas Sabonis (85).
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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