Basketball-loving Fortnite players are in for a treat. A data leak revealed today that Epic Games and the NBA may soon join forces to release a new set of basketball skins. The leaked images showed only some generic basketball uniforms for Fortnite players to don. It appears that the collaboration will also offer NBA team-specific skins. The hoops-themed crossover may even be part of a rumored upcoming Fortnite basketball mini-game.
Popular Fortnite dataminers Hypex, ShiinaBR, and Guille_GAG leaked images of 10 skins based on NBA players. The skins all featured the same purple, green, blue, and yellow uniform with “Fortnite 64″ or “Fortnite 81″ on the front. Each skin also comes with a basketball hoop backbling. The skins are apparently customizable, so players can choose to keep the generic uniform or switch to an NBA team of their choice. However, the leak did not reveal the available NBA teams.
Sports fans are already looking forward to this Fortnite crossover. Players have asked for an NBA collab ever since the battle royale debuted its NFL crossover in 2018. Those skins were modeled after real NFL teams and real players, so we can only hope to see the same respect given to the NBA skins.
All 10 NBA Skins! (Thanks to @Guille_GAG & @ShiinaBR for helping me get the screenshots) pic.twitter.com/rQ3gM5GWXd
— HYPEX (@HYPEX) May 11, 2021
Shootin’ hoops
Fortnite players have begun to theorize that the NBA skins are part of an alleged upcoming basketball mini game. As revealed in Epic Games vs. Apple court case files, Epic began planning a Fortnite Party Royale basketball game last year. It’s unclear if plans for the mini game still exist. However, Epic did tease yesterday a “to-be-announced summer event” that fans may think may be related to the basketball Party Royale mode.
It would certainly make sense to release the NBA skins and the mini game together. After all, Fortnite already followed this model back in January when it released soccer skins alongside its limited-time soccer mode, The Pelé Cup. Epic will hopefully reveal more information on the Fortnite x NBA crossover soon.
