Pair of former Kentucky stars taking part in players-only NBA 2K tourney on ESPN

A 16-player field of NBA stars in a players-only NBA 2K20 tournament was announced Tuesday and it includes a pair of University of Kentucky standouts.

Devin Booker and DeMarcus Cousins will participate in the event, which will air on ESPN and ESPN2, along with Kevin Durant and former Louisville stars Donovan Mitchell and Montrezl Harrell.

Play begins Friday, and the winner of the week-long competition will receive a $100,000 donation to a coronavirus-related relief effort of their choice from the NBA, the National Basketball Players Association and 2K, which develops “NBA 2K20.”

Players have been seeded according to their NBA 2K player rating — from Durant’s 96 down to Derrick Jones Jr.’s 78 — and tenure. Durant, the Brooklyn Nets star who sat out this NBA season due to injury, will face Jones in the first game Friday night. Other matches will air on ESPN2. The championship is set for April 11.

Participants will each select a pool of eight teams prior to the tournament and can only play with each club once throughout the tournament. Rounds one and two will be single elimination, and the semifinals and finals will be best-of-three.

The other matchups include Trae Young vs. Harrison Barnes, Hassan Whiteside vs. Pat Beverley, Mitchell vs. Rui Hachimura, Booker vs. Michael Porter Jr., Andre Drummond vs. Cousins, Zach LaVine vs. Deandre Ayton and Harrell vs. Domantas Sabonis.

The NBA has been shut down since March 11, the night that Utah center Rudy Gobert became the first player in the league to have a positive diagnosis for the virus revealed. The league is still discussing scenarios for resuming play once allowed.