Ibai's Balloon World Cup makes its way to NBA on TNT

Twitch star Ibai Llanos’ Balloon World Cup has made it to national television, with the likes of Shaquille O’ Neal, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Ernie Johnson Jr playing the game on set. 

Having gained popularity from his time spent with G2esports as a full-time content creator, Ibai separated from the team earlier this year and moved in with eight of his close friends and various streamers.

The influencer went on to create the Balloon World Cup, basing it around a sport he made up where two players battle to keep a balloon in the air. The sport can be compared to volleyball, except inside a room with tables and chairs spread around.

On a recent episode of NBA on TNT, the hosts decided to end the show with “a little bit of fun” as they played the game on National TV.

Balloon World Cup on ‘NBA on TNT’

Showing a TikTok video of two people playing the Balloon game, Shaq mentioned that it’s been a thing for a while, and there was a whole world cup based on it.

“This is an accident waiting to happen,” Smith explained as they showed the last match of the World Cup on screen. As the hosts stood up from their desks, Johnson started to explain the rules of the game.

They didn’t start without friendly banter between the two, though, as Shaq turned to Charles and said: “You better not get in my way.”

As the retired basketball stars chased after the balloon on set, they all seemed to want to quit the game rather quickly. Everyone agreed with Shaq when he said: “Who came up with this stupid game?”

In the end, it appeared that they all had fun, and it’s certainly interesting to see a Twitch streamer’s idea for a fun pastime make its way to national TV.

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