Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is Part 7 in an ongoing series listing players that appeared in more video games than actual NBA games.

As I’ve said in so many articles that have examined roster-related trivia, I love how basketball video games serve as interactive almanacs, but it’s important to note that they’re not infallible. If nothing else, they’re lacking in context and additional details, such as whether or not a player actually ever played in the NBA. Needless to say, if they’re in a licensed NBA video game, they were signed to an NBA contract at some point. However, their careers on the virtual hardwood ended up lasting much longer, no doubt featuring debuts and tenures that never eventuated in real life.

Even though these players may not be familiar, there are some interesting stories here. There’s a player that was the first to carve out a specific path to the NBA, though his journey obviously came to an end before actually setting foot on the court. A couple of others have followed a calling in their post-basketball careers that you might not expect of athletes who once chased the dream of playing pro ball. And of course, their stories are intertwined with some video game trivia, with a title other than NBA Live or NBA 2K making the list in this instalment. Enough of the teasers: let’s get to yet another five players with more appearances in video games than the actual NBA!

1. Latavious Williams (NBA 2K11)

For most of the players that I’ve covered in this series, the door has been closed on them playing in the NBA. It wouldn’t really be in the spirit of the topic if I were to cover younger players who could very well cease to be examples of having more video game appearances than NBA games played at some point in the near future. Latavious Williams is a noteworthy exception, though he’s not an unsafe bet as he has established a successful career playing overseas. Nevertheless, he’s still in his early 30s and remains active, so it’s technically possible. With that being said, the New Orleans Pelicans still hold his Draft rights from a 2015 trade, so they have first dibs.

Williams was drafted five years prior, taken 48th Overall by Miami and then traded to Oklahoma City. This made him the second player to be drafted while playing for a D-League team. A year before that however, he’d become the first player to enter the D-League straight out of high school; an alternative to playing overseas or in college, following the NBA’s adoption of an age limit in 2005. He played for the Thunder in the Summer League, but wasn’t invited to training camp, instead returning to the D-League before heading overseas. He’s an inactive player in NBA 2K11’s rosters, so if he does ever make it to the NBA, he has assets on hand for a current roster mod.

2. Tim Pickett (NBA Live 2005)

There are a few players in NBA Live 2005 who didn’t end up playing a single minute in a real NBA game, and Tim Pickett is one of them. Following two seasons playing at Florida State, the New Orleans Hornets took Pickett with the 44th pick in the 2004 Draft. He signed his rookie contract in August and made it through training camp and the preseason, which many second round picks do not. Being cut loose during this period is what leads to several players boasting video game appearances without any NBA experience, but Pickett was still with the Hornets’ when the season tipped off. Indeed, he was still a Hornet when most versions of NBA Live 2005 were released.

The lone exception is the Japanese PlayStation 2 release which came out December 2nd; just a couple of weeks after the Hornets waived Pickett. Outside of the Warriors signing him for five days prior to the delayed start of the 2012 season, he never made it back to the NBA. Pickett has had a long career playing overseas with a brief stint in the D-League at the beginning of his professional career, and was active as recently as 2020. Notably, Pickett joined the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association in 2012, as a replacement for Patty Mills. As for his appearances in video games, he’s another rookie from NBA Live 2005 that wasn’t in ESPN NBA 2K5.

3. Jermaine Walker (NBA Live 2003)

What does Jermaine Walker have in common with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson? Both attended the University of Miami and were Hurricanes, though The Rock played football whereas Walker obviously played basketball. The Rock also had a much better year in 1998, continuing his rise as a star in professional wrestling, and being crowned the WWF Champion at Survivor Series. A couple of months prior to that, Walker had been shot in the hip and had his car stolen outside of his parents’ house. Fortunately, his assailant was caught and charged, and Walker was still able to pursue a career in professional basketball. He entered the 1998 Draft, but wasn’t selected.

Unfortunately, 1998 wasn’t the best time to go undrafted; or indeed, be pursuing an NBA career. The lockout put the season on hold until 1999, though Walker did sign with the Raptors in January when it ended. He was released six days later, thus didn’t make the cut for the roster update for NBA Live 99 PC (then again, neither did a few players who did debut that year!). A year later he signed with Miami, but was once again cut before opening day. The scenario was repeated with the Magic in 2002, but this time, Walker was signed in time to be included in NBA Live 2003. It’s the closest he came to playing in the NBA, but he did play in the D-League and elsewhere.

4. Nate Wilbourne (NBA Action 98)

A majority of the player trivia that I cover in features like this one comes from NBA Live and NBA 2K. It stands to reason, as they have been the most popular series over the past couple of decades, and they have the most releases. I love it when I can find an example in another game though, and while NBA Action 98 (aka NBA Fastbreak ’98) is technically part of the NBA 2K lineage, it’s a game that I haven’t discussed in this context…until now. This one took some research as Nate Wilbourne doesn’t have an entry on Basketball Reference, Wikipedia, or even RealGM. There are articles on his college and overseas career, and he’s also the CEO/Founder of Precision Genetics.

So, here goes. Wilbourne played two years of college ball for Ohio State, before he transferred to South Carolina for his junior and senior seasons. He later played in Europe before retiring and entering the healthcare industry. The Hornets signed Wilbourne in August, leading to his inclusion in NBA Action 98. His appearance was completely wrong however, as for some reason he used a generic face with dark skin, whereas he is in fact white! Charlotte released him during the preseason in October, thus in NBA Fastbreak ’98 he’s replaced by a Roster Player named “1 Center”. He also played in Europe before finding his calling in healthcare and medical technology.

5. Marcus Mann (NBA Live 98)

I’ve profiled a couple of other players from NBA Live 98 that have provided us with some interesting trivia regarding their NBA careers. That includes stints that were only seen in video games, and players whose NBA career only ever truly began on the virtual hardwood. Marcus Mann is an example of the latter. Mann was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the 40th pick in the 1996 Draft. However, after making it to the NBA and signing his rookie contract, Mann began to have doubts about his professional future. As the season was tipping off, he informed the team that he felt his true calling was to be a Baptist minister, and suggested that they should part ways.

That officially happened when the Warriors waived him in March 1997. Since then, Reverend Marcus Mann has followed his calling, but he does have one more link to basketball. He appears on the Warriors’ roster in NBA Live 98 PC, which is highly unusual given that he was waived months before the game’s rosters were finalised, let alone its release. Clearly it was possible from a licensing standpoint, but it doesn’t make much sense given that he not only left the team, but the sport entirely. It does provide some interesting trivia all these years later, though. As for Reverend Mann, from what I’ve read, it seems as though he made the choice that was right for him.

And there you have it: another five players who appeared in more video games than actual NBA games. Do you remember seeing them in the aforementioned titles, or recall them from elsewhere? Let me know in the comments, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

The post The Friday Five: 5 Players In More Video Games Than NBA Games Played (Part 7) appeared first on NLSC.