Countless NBA players have experienced this feeling. However, not a single WNBA participant had until lately. When NBA 2K20 premiered in NBA 2K21 MT Coins 2019, it had been the first time that the annual match -- which premiered in 1999 -- featured WNBA players. Her predecessors didn't get the chance to play as themselves, however Washington Mystics wing Aerial Powers could not help but make a comparison when she played . "This is probably the way the guys feel when they get into the league and they get a opportunity to play themselves on 2K," she explained. "It's just surreal and is pretty fun."

"I'd have never thought they'd implement girls into the match," Powers told USA TODAY Sports. "Even though I feel as though we should be in there." Dallas Wings shield Allisha Gray has been playing 2K because Shaquille O'Neal graced the cover in 2005, and she still has difficulty believing that she is a part of it. Alexis Jones, who had been waived by the Atlanta Fantasy in August, has consistently enjoyed making her own player on 2K and will mold his match after her own. This will be the first year she will not have to make herself at the image of a guy.

"This was my dream come true, I really don't know about everybody else," Jones stated. "I know that's 1 thing that I always dreamed of as a little woman -- to maintain a 2K match. This chance to create yourself and build yourself as well as a girl is dope." The importance of building your own WNBA player can't be overstated, particularly for young women who wish to play basketball or are simply fans of the sport. "I think that it's amazing that little girls can grow up and really play the game and understand that they can still have the same objectives and accomplishments as guys," Jones stated. Powers echoed the sentiment and how important representation is for young women. She wants to see more advancement together with girls in the video game industry generally.

Powers flows and plays video games on Twitch and has become particularly active in gaming since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She even hosted an all-female 2K tournament in October that contained a 30-minute opening musical group by Grammy Award winning performer DJ Jazzy Jeff. The flow garnered over 26,000 viewers. The 2019 WNBA champion says when she plays video games she is sometimes satisfied with misogynistic messages from different users, and she expects that new modes like"The W" can make it much easier for girls playing with video games. "It sort of gives the younger women a good appearance and says,'Hey, it is fine to Buy NBA 2K Coins be a female, like basketball and wish to playwith,' since I understand some of their male friends might have a different opinion," Powers said. "But if you see the girls in the game, it is like,'Hey, that is right.'"