Every member of the Los Angeles Clippers appears to have received a free PlayStation 5 before the team’s recent triumph against the Los Angeles Lakers. This continues a shocking warm relationship between the video gaming industry and basketball. Such a relationship can also be seen in the recent schedule video unveiled by the Utah Jazz, which features classic games as it lays out the enemies that the team will be fighting off against.
The Clippers are obviously luckier than most video game enthusiasts. The PlayStation 5 is extremely difficult to secure. Sellers are having a hard time keeping stock for more than a minute due to overwhelming demand and tons of notorious scalpers.
These retailers are utilizing bots to buy PlayStation 5s in groups the moment they go on sale, leaving none for the regular customers. Worse, there has even been news of consoles being stolen straight out of delivery trucks, sometimes by the drivers themselves. As of the beginning of December, Amazon has finally begun replacing lost consoles, but it’s still a surprising story of how difficult it is to actually purchase a PlayStation 5.
Looks like all the LA Clippers players got PlayStation 5’s and headphones ahead of tonight’s season opener vs. the Lakers. pic.twitter.com/mcelRrFFDm
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 23, 2020
Unless you are a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, apparently. Journalist Tomer Azarly, posted a photo of the Los Angeles Clippers lockers on Twitter, showing a boxed PlayStation 5 sitting in every cubicle, along with a new pair of headphones.
This is a pretty significant perk as the consoles have a suggested retail price of $500 and the Clippers who aren’t even video game fans can do as the scalpers are doing and resell them at crazily high prices. Scalpers have collectively made $60 million since the release of the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. It is a bit disappointing for dedicated players who have been hindered by website crashes, scalpers, and bots to see the basketball team given a few of the new consoles.
It surely is not the first cross-promotion the console has received, though. Before launch, the PlayStation 5 was given as a prize in a Burger King giveaway, and earlier this month Mountain Dew revealed that the console will also be given as a reward for a sweepstakes event in its new digital shop, committed to the sale of their new drink, Gamer Fuel.
And with Visual Concepts’ work has been incorporating the PlayStation 5’s strong new features into NBA 2K21, it makes sense that the real NBA would have an in with Sony.
