In his piece “The Death Of Basketball”, Jon Bois uses the video game NBA 2K14 to simulate a future in which all basketball talent suddenly dries up and the NBA is forced, year after year, to draft from a pool of short, scrawny, completely useless players, each as devoid of athleticism and technical skill as the game will allow. It takes a while for the change to become apparent; for a few seasons, the horrid new players barely see any action and teams continue as they were with the stars they drafted in the before times. But, inevitably, the cracks soon start to show. The first teams to press the new players into starting roles unsurprisingly slump to historically bad seasons. As the quality of those around them declines, the dwindling group of good, but aging, players who remain begin posting astounding numbers. Desperate teams begin digging forgotten players out of free agency, years after they last played in the NBA. The Atlanta Hawks win an NBA championship. Finally, when the last good player retires, the statistical bottom falls out. Game 1 of the simulated 2034 NBA Finals ends 3-0, after 12 overtimes. Basketball dies an ignominious virtual death.

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