It's been a busy week for fans of the Toronto Raptors. Along with resigning Serge Ibaka and franchise mainstay, Kyle Lowry, the NBA squad also unveiled their first jersey to have a sponsored patch. The new addition will come via Sun Life Financial, who will plaster their logo on each player's kit starting next season.
According to multiple reports, Sun Life agreed to a three-year deal with the team and the Canadian insurance company will shell out $5 million each season in order to advertise. You can check out the new digs below courtesy of Twitter.
Uniforms and contracts aside, perhaps the dopest Toronto Raptors news comes via the good folks over at 2K Games. For years, the video game developer has churned out their NBA series to critical acclaim. The immensely popular franchise has become the title of choice for basketball fans, entertaining players for almost two decades.
Throughout those years, a myriad of stars have graced the cover including legends like Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Michael Jordan. More recently, the game flipped the script and introduced alternate covers, with all of MJ, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson on 2K12 box art.
Now, developers are looking to innovate the trend by debuting a special Canadian edition for the upcoming NBA 2K18. Seeing as how the Toronto Raptors are Canada's only NBA team, it only makes sense to feature one of the 6's premier ballers. This year, the distinction will go to DeMar DeRozan, who is the team's leader in points and games played. When interviewed by theScore's JosephCasciaro, DeRozan called the news a mind-blowing honour.
"It was something I didn’t even honestly believe when my agent first came to me and told me,” DeRozan told Casciaro. “So now to see the cover, and for it to be released, it’s something that I still don’t believe. It’s definitely an honor." It's an extra special for the shooting guard, who grew up playing the video game.
"I remember being a kid, creating a player in the video game, and being excited just doing that. The next thing was being in the college basketball game, and then the next thing, being in the NBA game," he stated. "Seeing your face, seeing yourself evolve in the game, and looking even more real, to hearing your voice in the game, to now, being on the cover. It’s something that’s extremely awesome and definitely mind-blowing."
You can grab the Canadian edition of NBA 2K18 when it drops on September 19. Cavaliers star, Kyrie Irving and Shaquille O'Neill will grace the U.S. and Legends versions respectively.
