

Have you ever been playing a sports video game and thought to yourself that it was pretty good, but needed to embrace debate better and bring more hot takes to the table? If so, the good folks at EA Sports have something for you.

In the constant battle between NBA Live 18 and NBA 2K18 for basketball gamers’ affection, the EA Sports crew is doing its best to close the gap on 2K by introducing some new elements this year. They’ve already announced the inclusion of all 12 WNBA teams as well as The Drew League, but when the demo drops on Friday, we’ll see another new addition for those wanting a little more yelling in their video game experience.

ESPN’s First Take is coming to NBA Live 18 per a screencap from pastapadre.com, which shows Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman discussing a prospect injury ahead of the NBA Draft.



Stephen A and Max bring hot takes to NBA Live 18. Career mode includes First Take segments pic.twitter.com/GC0keeNCBf — Bryan Wiedey (@pastapadre) August 10, 2017

All I can think about right now is how insane the recording of these segments must have been as Stephen A. and Max debated made up storylines for an NBA video game. Games have long tried to make the gameplay in career modes all-inclusive with your off-court life being just as important as on the court, but this is taking it to a whole new level. Just watch this clip cut from the NBA Live 18 demo (which released overseas a day before it hit the U.S. market).

They forreal got First Take in the NBA Live career mode this year lol pic.twitter.com/uLwbiXmmSo — New Life (@LordBalvin) August 10, 2017



Sports debate shows are unavoidable at this point for fans of midday sports television, so this is an accurate representation of what would happen to your player in his career. My biggest hope is that at some point in the mode, your player gets to beef with Stephen A. and he comes out and threatens to drop some dirt on you, like he did recently with LeBron James and previously with Kevin Durant. That would truly be an authentic NBA experience.

Update: Stephen A. Smith has confirmed his presence in NBA Live 18 with a retweet of this very post.