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 a list of five players who retired after a video game’s roster cut-off date.

The roster cut-off date – aka the “accurate as of” date – is ultimately responsible for a lot of basketball video game trivia. Phantom stints, rare stints, unrepresented stints, player absences…it all comes down to the rosters being locked on a specific date as a game is being finalised for launch. A major trade or signing late in the offseason is all it takes to leave a game notably outdated, or indeed with a glaring inaccuracy, such as Michael Redd infamously returning to the Milwaukee Bucks after NBA Live 2003 PC went gold. Yes, I know I bring up that example a lot, but it’s a really fun one!

Needless to say, if a player abruptly retires after a game’s roster cut-off date, that also leads to a rather noticeable inaccuracy. When I discussed players who had remained active in games after their careers ended in real life, I noted that Larry Johnson was an example of such a player. While the other players I mentioned in that Five were still under contract and on the injured list when the games in question were released, LJ retired on October 10th 2001; after NBA Live 2002’s rosters had been set, and too late to be accounted for. Here are three other All-Stars, along with a couple of notable role players, who retired after the roster cut-off date and thus remained active in games.

1. James Worthy (NBA Jam Tournament Edition, SNES)

As I’ve previously covered in Wayback Wednesday, the different revisions and home ports of NBA Jam Tournament Edition span multiple seasons. Depending on the one that you’re most familiar with, you’ll recall playing NBA Jam TE with rosters from different points of the 1994 or 1995 seasons. Hall of Famer James Worthy, in the twilight of his career by 1994, was the unlockable player for the Los Angeles Lakers upon beating all 27 teams in tournament mode. He remained part of the expanded rosters in the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis ports, where he was joined by Eddie Jones. Of course, outside of video games, they never played an official game together.

That’s because by the time the SNES and Genesis versions of NBA Jam Tournament Edition were released, James Worthy had been retired for months, having played his final game in April 1994. At first glance, you might wonder why he’s still active in a port that was set during the 1995 season, but Big Game James didn’t actually retire until November 1994, even participating in the pre-season before knee pain prompted him to call it a day. He was removed from the PC and PS1 versions, but his late and abrupt retirement, and the decision to keep him in the soon-to-be-released SNES and Genesis ports anyway, technically made him one of the first unlockable Legends.

2. Scottie Pippen (NBA Live 2005 & ESPN NBA 2K5)

It’s easy to forget all about Scottie Pippen’s return stint with the Chicago Bulls for the 2004 season. Pip was in his late 30s and extremely banged up by that point, playing only 23 games (starting in just six) in what was hardly a memorable farewell tour. Of course, even if you do remember Pippen’s cameos back in a Bulls uniform, you may well forget that he wasn’t just returning for one season. Pip actually signed a two-year contract in 2003, so he was still on Chicago’s roster as the 2005 season was getting ready to tip off. This is why you’ll find him on the Bulls in games such as NBA Live 2005 and ESPN NBA 2K5, alongside their new rookies Ben Gordon and Luol Deng.

That would’ve been fun to see in real life had Pip been healthier, and it makes for an interesting “What If” to play out using the default rosters of those games. It wasn’t to be though, as Pippen announced his retirement on October 5th 2004. Not only was that past the roster cut-off dates for both NBA Live 2005 and ESPN NBA 2K5, but it was a week after both games hit the shelves. To that point though, I’m sure that Pip remained active in the Dynasty and Association games for many virtual hoopsters who were also Chicago Bulls fans, no doubt winning a seventh ring in those virtual realities. It also ensured that he remained on the All-Decade teams in those games.

3. Loy Vaught (NBA Live 2002)

Larry Johnson isn’t the only player whose career was prolonged in NBA Live 2002. I had a false memory of Loy Vaught playing a year alongside Michael Jordan when His Airness made his second comeback with the Washington Wizards. It turns out that I was remembering the rosters from NBA Live 2002, with its mid-September 2001 roster cut-off date. To that point, Vaught was a Wizard when MJ became one, so the legendary Bull and long-time Clipper were set to be teammates for the 2002 season. Similar to Larry Johnson however, Vaught was suffering back problems by that point in his career, and thus was relegated to the injured list as the season got underway.

Unfortunately for Vaught, he’d never been the same since back and neck injuries had derailed his career during 1998, while MJ was leading the Bulls in their Last Dance. He ultimately opted to retire on November 7th 2001, with the Wizards buying out the hefty contract that he’d signed with the Detroit Pistons following the lockout of 1998-1999. Vaught’s retirement came far too late to be reflected in NBA Live 2002, leading to his appearance on the Wizards’ roster in the game, and my false memory. By the time the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube versions of NBA 2K2 came out, they accounted for Vaught’s departure despite their listed roster cut-off date of October 30th, 2001.

4. Hakeem Olajuwon (A Few 2003 Season Games)

With no interest in being the aging former top option on a rebuilding team, Hakeem Olajuwon joined the ranks of all-time greats who spent over a decade with one club, only to end their career elsewhere. It’s undoubtedly a strange sight to see The Dream in a Toronto Raptors jersey after spending twenty years in Houston between college and the NBA, but it happened. By that point, the real Hakeem wasn’t the force in the middle that he once was, but he could still dominate on the virtual hardwood. Weird as it may be, his stint with the Raptors paired him up with Vince Carter, creating a fun duo to play with. The 2002 Raptors would absolutely qualify as a Video Game Team.

Olajuwon played 61 games in 2002 – his most since 1997 – but started only 37 while playing around 22 mpg. A serious back injury threw his future into doubt, though. By late September 2002, it was assumed Hakeem would retire, and he did. Interestingly however, he wasn’t actually formally waived until October 27th 2003, remaining on the Raptors’ injured list throughout the 2003 season. The delay in Hakeem making his retirement official obviously accounts for him being active in games like NBA 2K3, NBA Live 2003 PS1 and PS2, and NBA Inside Drive 2003, but technically he was a Raptor all year. In NBA Live 2003 PC – released in November – he was a Free Agent.

5. Bison Dele (NBA Live 2000)

Even before his disappearance and presumed murder at sea in 2002, Bison Dele had an interesting story. Born Brian Williams, he was a solid backup big man who had a breakout year in 1996 after being traded to the Clippers. Unable to agree on a new contract at the end of the year, he sat out most of the 1997 season until latching on with the defending champion Chicago Bulls, becoming a valuable reserve as the team completed their Drive for Five. That stint landed him a big contract with the Detroit Pistons, leading to a career year in 1998. He would change his name to Bison Dele to honour his Cherokee and African heritage, and then abruptly retired in October 1999.

Reportedly, friction with Pistons management prompted Dele to walk away from the NBA, giving up a contract with five years and some $36 million left on it. It’s also been theorised that basketball wasn’t his true passion – he’d been a track and field athlete prior to a growth spurt – and having achieved financial security, was simply done with hoops. Whatever the case, his sudden retirement came after the release of NBA Live 2000, where he’s still starting for Detroit. As mentioned above, sadly his story has a tragic ending as only a few years later Dele disappeared at sea, with his brother suspected of murdering him, his girlfriend, and the skipper of his catamaran.

Do you remember seeing these players remain active in video games having retired after the roster cut-off date? Can you recall any other memorable examples of late retirements leaving games notably outdated shortly after launch? 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.

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