Countless NBA players have experienced this feeling. But not a single WNBA participant had until recently. When NBA 2K20 premiered in 2019, it had been the first time the yearly match -- that thrived in MT 2K21 1999 -- featured WNBA players. Her predecessors did not get the chance to play as themselves, but Washington Mystics wing Aerial Powers couldn't help but make a comparison when she first played as herself. "This is most likely how the men feel when they get in the league and they get a chance to play themselves 2K," she said. "It's just surreal and is pretty enjoyable."

"I'd have never believed they'd apply girls to the game," Powers told USA TODAY Sports. Dallas Wings guard Allisha Gray was playing 2K because Shaquille O'Neal graced the cover at 2005, and that she still has trouble believing that she's a part of it. Alexis Jones, who was waived by the Atlanta Fantasy in August, has consistently enjoyed making her own player on 2K and will mold his game after her own. This will be the first year she won't have to make herself at the picture of a man.

"That has been my fantasy come true, I really don't know about everybody else," Jones said. "I know that is one thing I always dreamed of as a little woman -- to maintain a 2K match. This opportunity to make yourself and build yourself and be a woman is dope." The significance of building your WNBA player can't be overstated, especially for young women who aspire to play basketball or are just fans of the game. "I think that it's astonishing that little girls can develop and really play the game and understand that they can have the very same goals and accomplishments as guys," Jones stated. Powers echoed the opinion and how important representation is for young ladies. She wants to see more advancement together with women in the video game business generally.

Powers flows and plays video games on Twitch and is now especially active in gaming because the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She even hosted an all-female 2K championship in October that contained a 30-minute opening musical group by Grammy Award winning performer DJ Jazzy Jeff. The flow garnered over 26,000 audiences. The 2019 WNBA winner says if she plays video games she is sometimes met with misogynistic messages from other consumers, and she expects that new modes such as"The W" will make it much easier for women playing video games. "It kind of gives the younger girls a fantastic appearance and says,'Hey, it is fine to be a female, such as basketball and Buy NBA 2K MT want to playwith,' because I know some of their male friends might have a different view," Powers said. "But if you Find the girls from the game, it's like,'Hey, this is right.'"