Knicks star proves he’s world’s greatest 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 greater gamers than him within the league, his pregame match on Wednesday night time proved that there isn’t a greater Murderer’s Creed fan on the earth.

The open-world, historic science fiction stealth videogame franchise releases its newest version, Murderer’s Creed Shadows, on Thursday, March 20, however whereas that may enable gamers worldwide to step into feudal Japan to play as both a samurai (Yasuke) or shinobi (Naoe) because of 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.

Picture by Logan Riely/NBAE through Getty Photos

If the Assassins a) we actual and b) nonetheless round right this moment, it’s not onerous 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 brand on some model of their disguises. And, regardless of motion pictures educating us {that a} hood and sun shades make somebody unrecognizable, we will inform that’s KAT, largely as a result of it’s onerous to mix in as a seven-footer, a peak that drastically limits how many individuals it might probably be in disguise.

Previous to this, the one fan of the sequence we knew of who had an argument as being greater 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:

Picture 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, we’ve to provide the sting to Cities right here. And provided that the NBA is made up of a lot of the largest people on the earth, it’s onerous to think about there’s a bigger Murderer’s Creed fan than Cities. Or at the very least 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 sport

Cities instructed 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 received 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 instructed 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 price, Cauley-Stein was listed as eight kilos lighter than Cities is now in his final NBA season, so KAT’s world’s greatest AC fan title nonetheless seems safe)

Cities has saved enjoying the video games throughout his spare time within the NBA since going No. 1 total within the 2015 NBA Draft, together with on this clip of him reacting in precisely the right solution 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 evaluations, 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 coated to dying in media, nonetheless stays endlessly fascinating.”

Nonetheless, Cities really dressing up as a a titular Murderer in the US’ greatest media market could get some new followers to Google the sequence to see what he’s a fan of. And little doubt 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 begin Wednesday’s sport:

Sadly, he and the Knicks couldn’t preserve that momentum, and Cities finally appeared set to endure a extremely unfortunate accident 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 sport which may preserve one from with the ability to play video video games!

Fortunately, Cities received 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, at the very least 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.