From sports simulator to culture connector, Boardroom breaks down the exponential expansion of NBA 2K with basketball’s best.
It’s the dog days of summer, and basketball — a sport that never stops — is quite comfortably on break.
As X pundits ponder Reed Sheppard‘s rookie stock and Boston’s chippiness coming off a championship, an image of a chiseled Zion Williamson suddenly shifts the conversation as to how high the Pelicans can fly and just where a healthy Zanos lands in the MVP conversation.
If a picture is really worth a thousand words, hundreds of replies validate that trope and underscore the curiosity surrounding the upload. Is it the lighting? Did Zion spend every off-season hour throwing around weights?
Or is the image perhaps a screenshot of NBA 2K where the blessed baller is backing down Druskii?
Over the last quarter century, NBA 2K has risen from a disruptive challenger brand to a platform of convergence culture with truly no comp. In an era where young adults use the term “surreal” to qualify both the magnificent and mundane, the gaming industry has blurred the lines between fantasy and reality exponentially each year, changing how we see the world and ourselves.
Over the last 15 years, that mirror, mirage, and mover of the needle has become NBA 2K.
Entering the market on the heels of a lockout in 1999, the SEGA-supported simulation has caught rocket fuel since selling to Take-Two Interactive and forming 2K Sports in 2005. Since then, 2K has offered basketball’s best gameplay and graphics year after year on the court while creating a world with Sims styling around it.
“We are a toolkit to let you live out the life that you want to live,” Ronnie Singh, the face of NBA 2K and 17-year veteran of the company, told Boardroom. “For most people in 2K? That means being a really good basketball player. But for some? That means the music functions, the clothing brands, and getting to wear what you want.”
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In 2024, NBA 2K is much more than a video game. It’s the world where Travis Scott and Kevin Durant spar with followers and chase their own fantasies.
For fans, it’s a parallel path to live out hoop dreams and aspirational ideals. Professionally, it’s become the farm system for streamer superstars from Kai Cenat to Adin Ross.
“Artists want to be featured on our soundtrack, celebrities want to be scanned into the game, and NBA players strive for that elusive 99 rating,” Erick Boenisch, VP of NBA 2K Development at Visual Concepts, told Boardroom. “We’ve become an integral part of the culture we aim to reflect.”
Following the release of NBA 2K25 and the start of the season, Boardroom chopped it up with 2K talent and basketball’s best to learn just how a sports simulator transformed into culture’s paradigm-shifting playground.
An Underdog Story
Ronnie Singh lives at the intersection between fantasy and reality.
In the last month alone, Joe Biden invited him to The White House and Anthony Edwards name-dropped him in a national ad campaign. He has more followers on Instagram than Jalen Brunson and is often asked for autographs.
Growing up all over America as the son of immigrants, the basketball-obsessed boy saw a future in e-sports few could conjure, but still nothing like this.
“My parents did not understand me going into my bedroom and playing video games,” said Singh. “They thought it was a waste of time. That whole time? I felt like I was preparing for something bigger. Gaming was the next frontier to make money in a profession I really loved, which was sports.”
As the global esports industry is anticipated to approach nearly $9 billion in a matter of years, Ronnie was right.
For 2K11, Michael Jordan joined the fold as a cover star, giving gamers old and young the chance to recreate his career. Over 5.5 million copies were sold worldwide. It was a win not only for 2K but for the GOAT himself.
“MJ understands that part of his resonance with the younger audience is leaning on things like 2K to continue to stay top of mind,” said Singh. “Nobody’s gonna forget MJ, but if we can assist in helping his brand equity years after he left and celebrate his iconic status in the NBA? That’s an amazing thing for us to be able to help with.”
The help was mutual as momentum mounted. By 2K14, theatrical trailers soundtracked by Phil Collins created movie magic with professional athletes caring as much about their 2K rating as their stat sheet.
“That’s really when ratings for me felt like they took off,” said Singh. “Hassan Whiteside had a triple-double on a Sunday ABC game, and all he was fixated on was his 2K rating.”
At that moment, 2K players and players in 2K were without differentiation.
“They’re one in the same,” Zak Armitage, SVP and GM of NBA 2K, told Boardroom. “All the players in the league are in the game, and most, if not all of them, play the game.”
“It’s crazy when you play the game, become a fan of the game, it becomes your everyday routine,” said Boardroom co-founder and two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant, who’s appeared on multiple NBA 2K covers during his player career. “I’ve been a gamer since PlayStation and Sega. I’ve always enjoyed playing basketball games. To see the evolution of 2K? Every year, I’m locked in.”
Exploding in the same era that Instagram sold to Facebook and Twitch took off, NBA 2K soared as media that was truly social, blurring the line between fantasy and reality where Singh saw video games going all along.
“It’s a culture maker in itself,” Singh said. “It’s earned that.”
More Than A Game
If NBA 2K were simply a basketball simulation enjoyed as an amateur pastime, it would still move millions of copies and occupy endless hours of time.
Needless to say, it’s become much more than just that.
“Music and basketball are indelibly linked,” David Kelley, Director of Global Partnerships and Licensing of Music at 2K, told Boardroom. “That’s what we want to be: a platform for music discovery. Not only are you getting the best basketball game of all time, but the best soundtrack each year.”
For decades, sports video games have caught fire online and in basements based on the tracks that bob heads and move thumbs. In recent years, NBA 2K has differentiated itself culturally by putting artists like J. Cole on the cover and allowing artists like Key Glock and Ski Mask the Slump God to grow with the game as almost annual mainstays of the platform.
Thankfully for fans, curating both the soundtrack and cover stars is less algorithms and marketing metrics and more feedback from those who play the game every day.
“Playboi Carti, NBA Youngboy, 21 Savage? These are all names that our community surfaces all the time with us,” said Kelley. “There are times the community puts forth an artist we’re not familiar with, we check them out, become big fans, and they end up on the soundtrack.”
All year round, Kelley and his team scour Soundcloud and Bandcamp to find the next new artist to take off on 2K. In the past, they’ve consulted with KD and Steve Stoute to curate the game’s playlist while also attending pickup runs at local recs to hear what moves bodies in real life.
“The things that quite literally move people is what we’re looking for in the music,” said Kelley. “You can only find or experience that in the gyms, venues, and the parks.”
That’s why the 2K soundtrack is not simply Spotify standards. You may not find Asake, Babyface Ray, Sauce Walka, LUCKI, or Larry June on the Billboard Hot 100, but you will find them on NBA 2K25 alongside the likes of Yeat and Doechii. By working with labels like EMPIRE and angling toward regional artists on the rise, the soundscape of 2K is meant to mirror basketball culture on a global scale.
“We’re trying to find artists from those regions that are really big fans of basketball and pull them onto the soundtrack,” said Kelley. “France, Australia, even the UK and Ireland are starting to latch onto the NBA. Central Cee is one of those artists. We want it to be a global experience, a soundtrack that’s as representative of our community as could be.”
Because of 2K’s role as a musical tastemaker, the artists now come to Kelley and his crew with wide eyes.
“‘I want to win a Grammy, and I want to be on the NBA 2K soundtrack’,” Kelley said. “That’s their bucket list. If you buy the game? You’ll be treated to amazing songs you may have heard or not heard before.”
While music has long been a selling point of 2K in the sonic form, its aesthetic crossover hit the height of heights when Travis Scott covered 2K19. Initially, the team sought to seek his ear. Instead, they found La Flame was as invested as a gamer as anyone they’d worked with.
“Travis Scott is probably the biggest NBA 2K fan of the artists we work with,” Kelley said. “We were sitting with him and Ronnie to talk about music, and all he wanted to talk about was the chase to Level 40.”
“All he cared about was jumping out of a helicopter in the game,” Singh added.
Despite being able to sell out stadiums and train with Chris Brickley, Scott seeks 2K for living out thrills and getting a competitive bump.
“He has a Pro-Am team with him, Sheck Wes, and his manager David Stromberg,” Kelley said. “You’ll see them out in rec league with the blue badges over their heads, so you know it’s them. I can’t think of another venue where you have the community interacting directly. These artists are huge and suddenly they get leveled in the game? You see the moments of humility, it’s really cool.”
This crossover competitive moment is the lifeblood of NBA 2K and why it’s become much more than a basketball simulation but rather a bridge between A-list icons and everyday people.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve toured the world,” said Kelley. “You could be playing in your mom’s basement and it’s an equal playing field.”
By teaming with talent like Travis and record labels worldwide, 2K’s created a space where music past and present intermingle. Just the same, they’ve extended their partnerships to the world of streetwear. Singh and Co. have evolved the game to the point that they are “now educating people on music and fashion,” claiming at least 25% of the clothing listed in the game comes from rising brands with less than a couple thousand Instagram followers.
From Hellstar to Bristol Studio, the newest and most nuanced lines in streetwear live in 2K.
“We have incredible fashion brands in the game,” said Armitage. “And then you see kids wearing it in real life, and they say, ‘Yeah, I learned about it in 2K. I heard this artist in 2K.’ That’s how people are discovering culture and that’s incredibly inspiring to us. We want to pay service to what’s come before but make sure we’re on the leading edge as a platform for growing basketball as a culture.”
In the era of Instagram clout and unreal resale prices, 2K offers an alternate reality where being good at gaming delivers drip that most consumers credit cards can’t keep up with.
“What I love is that some people can’t afford it or get the access to it,” Singh said. “You know where you can? In 2K. If you deserve the shoe with your in-game performance? You can get it in 2K even if you can’t get it in real life.”
The Surreal Life
In 2024, we’re yet to have flying cars or other modern innovations promised by Hollywood films. What we do have is 7-4 flying Frenchman with guard skills and grace, first ideated in MyCareer concepts in early iterations of NBA 2K.
In a sense, the sci-fi fantasy that is NBA 2K forecasted Victor Wembanyama before Spurs scouts ever flew to France.
“As an authentic reflection of the NBA, 2K often feels like a crystal ball for the league,” said Boenisch.
Even inside the NBA, real-life unicorns are spending hours imagining the game’s future while actively defining the present.
“The real test is when you build your MyPlayer,” Durant said. “I make five, six of them the whole year. Playmaking shot creator — they got so many different names now — two-way, three-level scorer. I make a big, 7-footer, so you can have every position in the rec.”
At its origin, NBA 2K has always been a future-facing basketball platform, allowing all gamers to imagine what’s next for the game. As the lines have been blurred IRL, the game has become more human thanks to turning on-court highlights into in-game animation.
Although the likes of KD and Ronnie read as full-circle stories on the evolution of NBA 2K, they’re perhaps second-billing to the generation of stars whose origin story begins within the game itself.
“Many of the biggest streamers and content creators in the world got their start on NBA 2K,” said Armitage. “You look at old videos of Kai Cenat? It’s playing 2K. Wherever we see the culture going, we’re investing.”
“All of them started in 2K,” said Singh. “They work so tremendously hard.”
For streamers like Cenat, 2K has been around since before they were born. Growing up with the game has endeared 2K to players and partners, as seen by Jayson Tatum‘s decision to debut his third signature shoe from Jordan Brand on the 2K25 cover.
“We partnered with [Jordan Brand] really early in our strategy for 2K25,” said Armitage. “Having Jayson Tatum as our cover athlete has given us this triple-threat approach where we revealed the cover and Tatum’s new shoe at the time. We have a partnership that resonates in three different ways all at once, and there’s not many entertainment properties that have that position.”
“Honestly, it was a surreal feeling,” Tatum said over the summer. “I’m not too far removed from being a kid and dreaming about all the things I’ve wanted to accomplish.”
“He’s played 2K since he was a little kid, so to be able to deliver that to him is full circle,” Armitage said. “We want the kid that’s playing now in their parent’s house with their friends who’s going to be in the NBA in ten years to have that same experience all the way through.”
That same experience can be felt for the young girl dreaming of playing in the WNBA.
Since 2019, W players have appeared in 2K to the delight of fans everywhere. For the first time ever, cover star A’ja Wilson carries the crown of the top rating in the game.
“To be the first 99 in WNBA history? She got after me a lot over that the last couple of years,” said Singh, who had the privilege of rating her and the access to hear about it.
Summer to summer, Singh corrals calls from the best basketball players debating their ratings and the top streamers signing up to get scanned. The game has become a town hall for all things hoops, with Mark Cuban calling it an educational device for the youth and global fans falling in love with 2K as a gateway drug to the NBA and American culture.
In conversation, Armitage hints at the fire from Olympiakos playing in an old Roman stadium someday integrating into the game, while Kelley claims that an artist reveal similar to Tatum’s signature shoe debut could be in the works.
“Our philosophy is wanting to be at the forefront of everything that touches basketball culture and investing early so that when these things surprise everyone? We’ve been there already,” Armitage said. “It touches every aspect of business, entertainment, and social connection.”
For Singh, who once dreamed of hoop prominence and saw the rise of video games in parallel as a boy in his bedroom, the heart of 2K still lives in becoming who you want to be in life in an interactive world magnified by imagination.
“How do we let you be the superstar of your own story, living in the life of a basketball world?” Singh said. “We did that whole superstar rise thing better than pretty much any gaming venture that there is.”
A superstar rise that reaches far beyond the virtual world.
“I spent Monday in the White House for Diwali,” said Singh. “Who would’ve thought gaming would’ve led to something of that magnitude?”
The line between fantasy and reality never lived so large.
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