With the release of latest edition of the NBA 2K franchise, NBA 2K26 , millions of basketball fans will hop on the virtual court and play out their dreams as an NBA or WNBA star. Joining them will be a number of actual NBA and WNBA players, as this current generation of stars grew up right alongside the video game that they now find themselves in.

CBS Sports spoke with three of those young stars -- Tyrese Haliburton , Tyrese Maxey and Paige Bueckers -- before the video game's Sept. 5 release about how NBA 2K has impacted their growth as point guards and understanding of the game of basketball, and how they still use it to scout opponents (and potential future teammates).

All three of the All-Stars are in their 20s, which means 2K was quite literally part of their basketball up

See Full Page