Phoenix Suns: Booker and Ayton are favorites to win NBA2K tournament

The Phoenix Suns might not be playing any real basketball for a while, but two of their best players will be doing so virtually on NBA2K. And it turns out, they’re favorited to win.

Not that anyone is grieving for their suffering worse than more sympathetic businesses hurting during this pandemic, but sportsbooks of the world have come to a grinding halt. Just like other companies who had to get creative in order to muster together what cashflow they can, sportsbooks have resorted to taking bets on video games, and oddsmakers really like Phoenix Suns players.

ESPN will be broadcasting a players-only NBA2K tournament this weekend and it will feature 16 of the league’s most, uh, willing-to-participate gamers. You already know not one, but two Phoenix Suns players made the cut, in Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker. Now that BetOnline.com has set the odds, it turns out these two are also the favorites to win it all.

Booker, known to be a hardcore Call of Duty gamer, is the overall favorite, coming in at +350, but right behind him is his teammate, Deandre Ayton, at +500.

Here is the complete list of odds as of April 3:

Devin Booker +350
Deandre Ayton +500
Kevin Durant +700
Derrick Jones Jr. +800
Patrick Beverley +800
Donovan Mitchell +1000
Trae Young +1200
Rui Hachimura +1400
DeMarcus Cousins +1600
Hassan Whiteside +1600
Montrezl Harrell +1600
Andre Drummond +1800
Harrison Barnes +2000
Michael Porter Jr. +2000
Zach LaVine +2000
Domantas Sabonis +2800

I have no idea how in the world anyone could have made these odds with any kind of intelligent handicapping, but in the midst of a crisis, here we are.

You can even get crazy with a bunch of prop bets such as which Phoenix Suns player will make it further (both are at -120), or which player will score the most/fewest points in the first round.

They even have individual matchup odds. Devin Booker is a 4.5-point favorite over Michael Porter Jr. and Ayton comes in 4-point favorite over Zach LaVine.

See tweet below for the full list of matchups:

Maybe more importantly for those of us who will likely choose not to financially dabble in young men playing video games yet are still more intrigued than we should be, the TV schedule came out:

It looks like superstar Kevin Durant’s game against the former Phoenix Suns high-flyer, Derrick Jones Jr. will get showcased and my guess is ESPN2 will bounce around to three other first-round games starting at 8:30 p.m. ET.

However, for those of you not interested in watching Rui Hachimura and Donovan Mitchell battle it out, the Phoenix Suns will be streaming the entirety of their players’ games on their Twitch channel. 

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Gamble responsibly, degenerates.