If you’ve followed NBA basketball at all in the last three years then you know that Steph Curry is essentially lights out from where ever he shoots the ball.
It’s a problem for real players facing him and recently it’s become a problem for developers trying to depict him in video games. 2K Sports might have the most realistic basketball game on the market with their NBA2K series. They’ve managed to create digital players that react fairly realistically to most in-game situations.
That is, until they tried to account for Steph Curry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYFrQ4B91XE
NBA2K gameplay director Mike Wang told Forbes, “To be completely honest, we are still looking for ways to better translate his game into NBA 2K. He’s a ‘rule breaker’ when it comes to jump shooting … he becomes a problem in the video game world where we’ve been trying to train our gamers [to know] that certain types of shots should be rewarded versus others.”
Earlier this month, ESPN asked 2K Sports to run simulations with Curry to see how the virtual compared to the real. Flesh and bone Curry won every time.
2K Curry averaged 28.5 ppg over a 50 game simulation versus this season’s curry who is averageing 29.8. Real Curry also had 13 more 30 point games and 5 more 20 point quarters than virtual Curry. The most telling stat was in made 3-pointers. Real Curry is on pace for 388 while 2K Curry “only” hit 293.
“We’re going to have to invest even more time in future iterations to really let Steph be Steph in future versions of NBA 2K,” said Wang.
Our suggestion? Perhaps institute a Madden-esque stat similar to Spectacular Catch and have it attached to Curry’s shooting accuracy.