Deron Williams has been one of the NBA’s top point guards for several years. But the Nets star — and cover athlete for “NBA Baller Beats,” a new video game that is being released today — isn’t sure he would have gotten the opportunity to be on the game’s cover if he were still playing in Utah.
“Probably not,” Williams told The Post yesterday. “There’s not a lot of national opportunities in Utah. There’s definitely some local stuff, some regional stuff, but not too much national stuff.”
The game is the latest in a series of endorsements Williams has picked up since he was traded to the Nets in February 2011. It’s something Williams said he enjoys, as long as it’s a product that intrigues him.
“If they’re the right opportunity, and I thought this was the right opportunity,” Williams said. “I really enjoy playing the game, I’m gonna enjoy playing the game.
“It’s not just sitting and watching the TV. You’re up, you’re active, and you’re learning real baller moves.”
Williams is a logical choice to be the cover athlete for the game, which also features New York native and TNT analyst Kenny Smith. The game, which is for the XBOX Kinect, uses motion capturing to track a player dribbling a basketball and executing different ball-handling skills, including shot and pass fakes. The game presents a challenge for any skill level, as Williams said even he can’t complete its highest difficulty level yet.
“Baller Beats is based around dribbling, [doing] different dribbling moves, so it makes sense they’d want to have a point guard on the cover,” Williams said. “Once I learned a little bit about the game, I wanted to see what it was about. I went into the studio, and got a chance to see it and play it a little bit and was really blown away by the game.’’
“When you’re hearing the concept of it, it doesn’t sound as good as when you see the game … It’s very unique.”
Williams, who grew up playing video games, said he never dreamed about being on the cover of one. But as he looked at himself on the cover of the game in front of him, he couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s definitely cool to see,” he said. “Being my first game cover, it’s definitely cool, and it’s a great game to be a part of.”