Becoming an NBA Draft prospect takes countless hours in the gym honing the necessary skills and developing elite athleticism. But recently, a new element can now be added to that preparation…gaming.
It’s definitely not the first time that gaming intersects with different things in “real life”. Just think how Call of Duty and other warfare simulators are used as training tools in real military settings. Kentucky Wildcats point guard De’Aaron Fox has recently declared that he learned to perform the classic Allen Iverson crossover playing the NBA 2K series.
That move, however, is definitely not the only thing he learned while playing games. More than concrete stuff, spending has many hours with games as in the gym, he learned to think fast, to get his mind moving, and to anticipate plays before they happen.
“He was one of those kids you didn’t really have to teach much on the basketball court—show him something and he could learn,” De’Aaron’s father, Aaron Fox told Bleacher Report. “A lot of people don’t believe me, but I tell everyone that that PlayStation helped him get where he is today.”
De’Aaron Fox’s father: “PlayStation helped him get where he is today.. He learned pick & rolls. He learned to roll off a ball screen.” pic.twitter.com/8KEUug2vKj
— Leading NBA ™ (@LeadingNBA_) February 28, 2017
“He’d play that PlayStation, and he could master it in no time,” Fox continued. “He learned pick-and-rolls. He learned how to roll off a ball screen. I tell kids if they want to learn something about basketball, go put it on pro mode on 2K and let them play.”
De’Aaron, who has the potential to become the best player of his draft according to Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari, thinks that gaming helps him mostly in concentrating on several things at the same time, and doing them all well.
“You know how people say how scientists have proven that multitasking is impossible?” Fox goes on. “I fight that. I don’t think multitasking is impossible. With me at home, I had the TV on, then I had the TV on the floor—I’d watch TV and play the game.”
A left-handed shooter with a great eye for the game, De’Aaron Fox is currently in the top 10 of most of the NBA mock drafts. It will be truly interesting to see how his career pans out and the kind of influence 2K will have on his game once he’ll be playing against NBA competition.