Duke’s Paolo Banchero debuts as marquee figure in NBA 2K22 game

Early in Mike Krzyzewski’s 42-year tenure as Duke’s basketball coach, his players may have cobbled together a few hundred dollars to purchase an Atari 2600 to play in their dorm room, all the while knowing that even accepting a free lunch from a booster could yield a suspension.

Now, weeks away from retirement, Krzyzewski sees one of his current players — a freshman, no less — playing a marquee role in a video game — and an NBA-focused game, no less — and rightly profiting financially from monetizing his brand.

Yes, times certainly have changed. And on the cusp of March Madness, NBA 2K22’s newest multiplayer season launches Friday featuring Duke star freshman Paolo Banchero as a digital character in the video game’s MyTeam mode.

Banchero, 19, originally announced a deal with 2K Sports in September, before he even suited up for Duke. And now Friday’s launch is significant because the potential No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft is the first active college player to appear in an American video game by monetizing his NIL. 

The timing of the “Season 5: Power Within” launch creates a striking juxtaposition, with Banchero assuming a featured role in an NBA-centric video game just as his Blue Devils are about to enter the NCAA tournament. The announcement invites users to “fight alongside Kevin Durant, Rui Hachimura and Paolo Banchero to unleash your strength in pursuit of success and new rewards.” Durant and Hachimura, two current NBA players in the game, join Banchero on an “anime-style journey” through the game’s Season 5. On the 2K22 website, Banchero is referred to as a “future NBA superstar.”

Banchero has a $165,000 NIL Valuation, according to On3. That ranks ninth among college basketball players. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not function as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time. In addition to his foray into the video game space, Banchero announced this week that he has signed an NIL deal with JD Sports, a British sportswear and fashion company. Banchero also announced a deal with Panini in September. 

This concept of incorporating a college star, one who benefits from immense national TV exposure, works because the bridge from the high school prom to shaking NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s hand at the NBA draft is a short one. Prospects need just one year of college (or in a professional league like the G League or Overtime Elite) to be eligible for the NBA draft. And elite teenage basketball stars become household names sooner than ever now because of social media. Banchero has 204,000 Instagram followers, up from 91,000 when he announced the 2K Sports deal in September.

NIL heralds return of college sports video games

As the NIL era continues to take shape, video games are a category to watch. The EA Sports college games, of course, once were hugely popular. Then Ed O’Bannon’s 2009 antitrust class-action lawsuit against the NCAA, EA Sports and the College Licensing Company resulted in a $40 million settlement. The other outcome of that landmark case was that it became untenable for EA Sports to continue to create its annual college football game using athletes’ images and skill sets. Its last version was NCAA Football 2014.

The return of college sports video games — enhanced versions that feature active college athletes playing in true-to-life stadiums and arenas — has loomed as a welcomed byproduct of the NIL era. They’ve been viewed as a treasure on the horizon, for the athletes who will be compensated as well as for the legions of fans who adore the games. 

EA Sports has signaled that the game will be reborn. North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham told On3 that he expects a video game to include active college athletes as soon as 2023. While Banchero’s appearance in an NBA game is a start, fans are awaiting a near-complete collection of current college athletes playing in accurately rendered digitized venues.

“A Madden game with just Tom Brady isn’t that interesting; a Madden game with just some of the quarterbacks or wide receivers in it isn’t that interesting,” Eric Winston, a former University of Miami offensive lineman and 12-year NFL veteran, told On3 last fall. Winston is the Chief Partnerships Officer at OneTeam Partners, which specializes in group licensing and works to maximize the value of athlete NIL across video games, trading cards, apparel and merchandise.

“What consumers want are the complete rosters, right?” Winston said. “They want the team names on the side of the helmets and on the jerseys, and they want the colors to be real. It’s the same idea here. It’s going to take a bit, but getting that up and moving and us having — especially OneTeam, specifically — the expertise in that video game category to help make that happen, I think, is going to bring it to life a lot sooner.”

The Banchero video game launch is a start, with much more to come.