Devin Booker won the NBA 2K20 Players Tournament on Saturday night, sweeping Phoenix Suns teammate Deandre Ayton in the best-of-three final.

“I played a lot growing up,” Booker said. “It's all about timing and eye co-ordination.”

ESPN broadcast the three-day, 16-player Xbox One competition. The last NBA games were played March 11, the day Utah Jazz centre Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.

Booker’s Houston Rockets topped Ayton’s Los Angeles Lakers 72-62 in Game 1 and the star guard directed the Denver Nuggets to a 74-62 victory over thee Milwaukee Bucks in the second.

“Anyone who thinks they can play 2K, let's get it,” Booker said.

Booker earned a $100,000 donation to a coronavirus-related relief effort of his choice. Seeded fifth, he beat Denver's Michael Porter Jr., Washington's Rui Hachimura and the Los Angeles Clippers' Montrezl Harrell to reach the final — also sweeping those matchups.

Ayton topped Chicago's Zach LaVine, Atlanta's Trae Young and the Clippers' Patrick Beverley, using his own Suns to top Beverley in the semifinals.

“I said in the beginning that it was going to be Deandre and I in the championship — and that's the way it ended up,” Booker said.

The players were seeded by their NBA 2K player ratings.

 

Semifinals

The semi-final round saw a pair of sweeps.

In the first matchup, Booker faced off with Los Angeles Clippers big man Montrezl Harrell. Booker used Harrell's real-life squad in the Clippers to take Game 1, 68-54, as Harrell was playing with the Rockets.

Booker finished off Harrell in Game 2, using the NBA champion Toronto Raptors to defeat Harrell's Bucks, 65-62, in a rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals. Fred Van Vleet came up clutch with a late-game steal on Bucks big man Antetokounmpo to seal the victory.

In the second semi-final, Ayton used the Brooklyn Nets and his very own Suns to take down Patrick Beverley of the Clippers.

Game 1 was a close affair with Ayton holding on for a 75-69 victory over Beverley's Boston Celtics. Game 2 was highlighted by Ayton throwing down an alley-oop with himself as the Suns defeated Beverley's Denver Nuggets, 74-67.

At one point it looked like Beverley was trying to throw Ayton off his game, but it didn't quite work out as planned.