Devin Booker won the NBA 2K20 Players Tournament on Saturday night, sweeping Phoenix Suns teammate Deandre Ayton in the best-of-three final round.
“I played a lot growing up,” Booker said of the video game. “It’s all about timing and eye coordination.”
ESPN televised all four days of the Xbox One competition between 16 players, all of them currently or recently under contract with NBA teams. The last on-court NBA games were played March 11, the day Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus, the first major domino in a worldwide shutdown of sports.
Booker’s virtual Houston Rockets topped Ayton’s virtual Los Angeles Lakers 72-62 in the first game, and the star guard directed the virtual Denver Nuggets to a 74-62 victory over the virtual Milwaukee Bucks in the second.
“Anyone who thinks they can play 2K, let’s get it,” said Booker, who earned a $100,000 donation to a coronavirus-related relief effort of his choice. Seeded fifth, he beat Denver’s Michael Porter Jr., the Washington Wizards’ Rui Hachimura and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Montrezl Harrell to reach the final without losing a game.