Knicks star proves he’s world’s largest Murderer’s Creed fan with pregame tunnel match

Listed at seven toes and 248 kilos, Karl-Anthony Cities is already one of many largest gamers within the NBA. However whereas there could also be larger gamers than him within the league, his pregame match on Wednesday evening proved that there isn’t a larger Murderer’s Creed fan on the planet.

The open-world, historic science fiction stealth videogame franchise releases its newest version, Murderer’s Creed Shadows, on Thursday, March 20, however whereas that can permit gamers worldwide to step into feudal Japan to play as both a samurai (Yasuke) or shinobi (Naoe) due to its twin playable protagonists, Cities has already gotten to reside out the dream for longtime followers of the sequence, and he didn’t even need to step into The Animus to do it.

What dream, you ask? Nicely, earlier than his New York Knicks took on the San Antonio Spurs, Cities walked into the matchup in a modernized model of the enduring Murderer robes that writer Ubisoft custom-designed for his seven-foot body.

Photograph by Logan Riely/NBAE through Getty Photos

If the Assassins a) we actual and b) nonetheless round right now, it’s not arduous to think about this being a match they’d put on, particularly given most of the sequence’ playable characters’ dependancy to placing their secret society emblem on some model of their disguises. And, regardless of motion pictures instructing us {that a} hood and sun shades make somebody unrecognizable, we will inform that’s KAT, principally as a result of it’s arduous to mix in as a seven-footer, a peak that drastically limits how many individuals it may presumably be in disguise.

Previous to this, the one fan of the sequence we knew of who had an argument as being larger than Cities was Jaren Jackson Jr., who was among the many NBA gamers to hitch Cities at Ubisoft’s headquarters for an early trial of the sport throughout NBA All-Star Weekend:

Photograph by Cassidy Sparrow/Getty Photos for Ubisoft

Nonetheless, Jackson is listed as “simply” 6’10 and 242 kilos, so whereas he could also be a extra imposing rim protector, between his listed dimension and lack of Murderer robes for a pregame tunnel match, now we have to present the sting to Cities right here. And on condition that the NBA is made up of many of the largest people on the planet, it’s arduous to think about there’s a bigger Murderer’s Creed fan than Cities. Or not less than not one who loves the sport as a lot.

Karl-Anthony Cities has been a fan of Murderer’s Creed for the reason that first recreation

Cities informed ESPN that he has performed the sequence’ for the reason that first entry in 2007 — that means he was already enjoying M-rated video games at 12 — and actually bought into the sequence when it launched its first multiplayer entry, Murderer’s Creed: Brotherhood, with a few of his Kentucky teammates:

“Brotherhood solidified my love and fervour for Murderer’s Creed,” Cities informed ESPN. “I used to be in school and in a position to play with my teammates — Willie Cauley-Stein and Derek Willis — for the primary time and expertise the world with my teammates.”

(For what it’s value, Cauley-Stein was listed as eight kilos lighter than Cities is now in his final NBA season, so KAT’s world’s largest AC fan title nonetheless seems safe)

Cities has stored enjoying the video games throughout his spare time within the NBA since going No. 1 general within the 2015 NBA Draft, together with on this clip of him reacting in precisely the proper technique to realizing how highly effective Eivor/Odin’s kicks may very well be in 2022’s AC: Valhalla growth, “Daybreak of Ragnarok”:

Shadows is getting loads of buzz already, as the sport is visually lovely and receiving loads of constructive opinions, with my colleagues at The Verge — precisely, on this sports activities blogger who had an opportunity to play a pre-release model of the sport’s opinion — writing that “each little bit of surroundings is rendered with such element that I felt transported to an period of Japan that, regardless of being lined to demise in media, however stays endlessly fascinating.”

Nonetheless, Cities truly dressing up as a a titular Murderer in america’ largest media market could get some new followers to Google the sequence to see what he’s a fan of. And little question as a result of he was emboldened by lastly, formally becoming a member of the Brotherhood of Assassins, Cities scored the Knicks’ first 9 factors on his personal to start out Wednesday’s recreation:

Sadly, he and the Knicks couldn’t preserve that momentum, and Cities in the end appeared set to endure a very unfortunate coincidence within the third quarter, when he left the sport with an obvious hand harm… which might have been brutal information not simply because the Knicks solely have 14 video games left earlier than the NBA playoffs, but additionally as a result of he injured the one physique half you possibly can injure in a basketball recreation which may preserve one from having the ability to play video video games!

Fortunately, Cities bought some therapeutic rations and was in a position to return within the fourth quarter, though he couldn’t save the Knicks from a 120-105 loss. However hey, not less than he averted a hand harm in order that he can slip on his hidden blade and play the total model of Shadows tonight to assist unwind.