NBA star's warning: league performance will drop in November because of GTA VI

We already knew GTA VI would be a cultural earthquake, but now it’s being said at NBA press conferences. Steven Adams, the Houston Rockets center, has warned with a laugh about what November brings: “The performance of the league, league wide, is going to go down because Grand Theft Auto is dropping. Look at the NFL, look at all the leagues, and watch it plummet.”

The New Zealander has it all figured out: the slump lasts a month. “It should come back up by December, most of the boys will have finished it by then. Hopefully they complete the game. Coaching as well. The scouts are going to be horrendous too, just for November,” he added, as reported by NME.

It’s not the first warning of its kind. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said earlier this year that he expects “a lot of people will be calling in sick on November 19,” the game’s launch day. And there’s sporting precedent: back in 2021, Jose Mourinho called Fortnite a “nightmare” because his players stayed up late playing it.

The anecdote says a lot about the moment: two months from release, GTA VI is no longer just a video game launch but an event other industries are penciling into their calendars. Between the soundtrack with six singles already out and the Miami billboards, the game is already everywhere. The NBA bit is just the latest sign.