Knicks star proves he’s world’s largest Murderer’s Creed fan with pregame tunnel match

Listed at seven ft and 248 kilos, Karl-Anthony Cities is already one of many largest gamers within the NBA. However whereas there could also be larger gamers than him within the league, his pregame match on Wednesday night time proved that there is no such thing as a larger Murderer’s Creed fan on the planet.

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 permit 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 dwell out the dream for longtime followers of the collection, and he didn’t even should 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 long-lasting Murderer robes that writer Ubisoft custom-designed for his seven-foot body.

Photograph by Logan Riely/NBAE through Getty Pictures

If the Assassins a) we actual and b) nonetheless round at this time, it’s not exhausting to think about this being a match they’d put on, particularly given most of the collection’ playable characters’ habit to placing their secret society brand on some model of their disguises. And, regardless of motion pictures instructing us {that a} hood and sun shades make somebody unrecognizable, we are able to inform that’s KAT, largely as a result of it’s exhausting to mix in as a seven-footer, a top that drastically limits how many individuals it might presumably be in disguise.

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

Photograph by Cassidy Sparrow/Getty Pictures 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 measurement and lack of Murderer robes for a pregame tunnel match, we now have 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 planet, it’s exhausting to think about there’s a bigger Murderer’s Creed fan than Cities. Or a minimum of not one who loves the sport as a lot.

Karl-Anthony Cities has been a fan of Murderer’s Creed because the first sport

Cities informed ESPN that he has performed the collection’ because the first entry in 2007 — that means he was already enjoying M-rated video games at 12 — and actually acquired into the collection 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 informed ESPN. “I used to be in school and capable of 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 value, Cauley-Stein was listed as eight kilos lighter than Cities is now in his final NBA season, so KAT’s world’s largest AC fan title nonetheless seems safe)

Cities has stored enjoying the video games throughout his spare time within the NBA since going No. 1 general within the 2015 NBA Draft, together with on this clip of him reacting in precisely the right technique 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 stunning and receiving loads of constructive critiques, 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 lined to demise in media, nonetheless stays endlessly fascinating.”

Nonetheless, Cities really dressing up as a a titular Murderer in the US’ largest media market could get some new followers to Google the collection 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 start out Wednesday’s sport:

Sadly, he and the Knicks couldn’t hold that momentum, and Cities in the end appeared set to endure a very unfortunate accident within the third quarter, when he left the sport with an obvious hand damage… 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 that may hold one from with the ability to play video video games!

Fortunately, Cities acquired some therapeutic rations and was capable of return within the fourth quarter, though he couldn’t save the Knicks from a 120-105 loss. However hey, a minimum of he prevented a hand damage in order that he can slip on his hidden blade and play the complete model of Shadows tonight to assist unwind.