This week on Spawn On Me, I land an exclusive sit-down with the team behind NBA The Run, the upcoming 3v3 arcade basketball game from Play by Play Studios. If you've been waiting for a true spiritual successor to NBA Street since EA Sports BIG went quiet, you're going to want to hear this one.

I talk with the team about how a small, passionate studio went from building a fictional streetball game called The Run: Got Next to landing an official NBA license — and how a single LinkedIn message changed the trajectory of the entire project. We get into Mike Young's two-decade journey from NBA Street, FIFA Street, SSX, and Madden to leading the revival of a genre that's been collecting dust since 2007.

We dig into what makes NBA The Run different: the fast-paced 3v3 gameplay, the 32 hand-crafted NBA stars with hero-shooter-style personalities, the rogue-like rule modifiers, and why iconic streetball spots like Rucker Park and Venice Beach matter to the culture. I also push the team on the bigger questions — who is this game really for, how do they balance arcade fun with depth, and what does it mean to bring streetball back to the mainstream conversation?

NBA The Run drops June 9 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. Lace 'em up.

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