Miami Heat center Meyers Leonard and New Orleans Pelicans guard Josh Hart are taking their rivalry from the court to the battlefield, facing off in Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty Modern Warfare: Warzone” for the final match of a gaming tournament raising money for pandemic relief.
Leonard began his Hammer Classic charitable tournament April 3 with the goal of raising $175,000 for Feeding America, beginning with an ambitious 24-hour live gaming stream on Twitch. The effort ends May 6.
The stream will commence at 5 p.m. PT on Twitch. Leonard teamed up with esports influencer network PLAYERS NTWRK to feature several other notable names in its roster, including musicians PARTYNEXTDOOR and Murda Beatz.
The latest match-up aims to raise donations of at least $20,000 for Feeding America, with a total of $175,000 hopefully donated by the end of the tournament to feed at least 1 million people affected by COVID-19.
Tonight’s live stream can be found on PLAYERS NTWRK’s Twitch channel, linked here.
Leonard, PARTYNEXTDOOR and Murda Beats all recently joined PLAYERS NTWRK, which was launched April 13 by former Echo Fox investor Stratton Sclavos. PLAYERS NTWRK recruits influential personalities or celebrities to create digital pop culture entertainment content — mostly for Twitch, the Amazon-owned game streaming service.
“I joined PLAYERS NTWRK for a few reasons,” Leonard said in an email Friday. “Gaming, the esports world and live streaming are a true passion of mine. Collaboration with (PLAYERS NTWRK) will allow me to grow my audience and brand in this space.”
Leonard added, “I love that PN not only sees the explosion of the need for content and live streaming but also the collaborative effort to bring together athletes, musicians and many other powerful influencers to create authentic, fun and unique content.”
Both Leonard and Hart competed in another “Call of Duty” tournament April 18 hosted by Zeno Jackson and his gaming brand SLAM Gaming. During that tournament, Hart boasted he was undefeated 4-0, but it remains to be seen if his skills stay on top during the final match tonight.