SALT LAKE CITY -- Shaka Browne and Lytel Martin had exactly the same routine growing up. They would go to NBA 2K22 MT college. They would come home. They had pop-in NBA 2K9 -- the 2009 version of this NBA-based video game -- and would basketball online. Five-on-five virtual games. On the weekends, the same thing. Play all weekend. Come home, log into NBA 2K and match. Day daily. Weekend after weekend.

Browne (who goes by"Shaka") and Martin (who goes by"Lotty") climbed the global rankings of their NBA 2K9 online community. It turned out to be a competitive period with hundreds of thousands competing on the web. Shaka, whose handle was"YoungSparks92," saw someone climbing the rankings with him. The two New Yorkers were linked together then. Little did they know that almost a decade later they would be teammates, competing side by side for the Utah Jazz at a professional league for NBA 2K gamers.

See, in the time, it was about positions. They climbed up the ladder. Shaka had the bragging rights always ahead of Lotty. When Lotty discovered the two NBA 2K stars climbed up in the same area of Mount Vernon, New York. He knew he had to fight him. One match to pick bragging rights to town and 2K. They went to different high schools, therefore it wasn't like they could link up by themselves. However they had mutual friends, so the match was put up.

Shaka wanted the opportunity to play with Lotty one on one. He knew he was a much better player than him, even though they had been constantly neck-and-neck at the competitive positions. He just wanted the moment to establish it. They played a hard-fought game. Lotty picked the Los Angeles Lakers -- a group touting a prime Kobe Bryant -- and Cheap NBA 2K21 MT Coins Shaka chose the Rockets, which had Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming in the time.