Athletes are warning fans about the release of GTA VI — prepare for their performance to suffer

What has remained fan theory up until this point is now being openly discussed: Major sports leagues are likely to suffer when a new video game comes out.The idea has been floated by fans for years, but for the highly anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto 6, athletes are openly saying they're OK with missing work.'Scouts are going to be horrendous.'NBA center Steven Adams broke the fourth wall recently when he sent out a warning to fans and media that when GTA VI drops in November, the entire league is going to suffer performance-wise."I will say, you guys should anticipate November," the Houston Rockets player told reporters. "The performance of the league, league-wide. GTA is dropping."No matter if Adams is predicting his own temporary demise or recognizes the amount of gamers he plays ball against, either way, a reckoning is coming.The New Zealand native went even further and suggested that coaching skill would drop and so would scouting efficiency."Scouts are going to be horrendous, mate," he warned. "Just for November. But it should bounce back in December hopefully."Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton sent out a similar warning during the summer, joking that he might not be seen on the racetrack when the game is released."I'm dying for the new Grand Theft Auto to come out. GTA 6," Hamilton said in front of fans in Belgium."Yeah, that's the one I'm waiting for. I have to cancel all my work when that game comes out," he added.RELATED: US Army unit grants soldiers 4-day pass to play Grand Theft Auto VI — there's just one little catch GTA 6 comes out on November 19, the same day as the start of the F1 Heineken Las Vegas GP. It should go without saying that fans will be checking in to see if Hamilton is absent that weekend or possibly the following week for the Qatar Airways Qatar GP (Nov. 27-29).While Hamilton appeared to be joking, athletes have seemed to be hinting at what has been suspected by fans for years; they are not immune to binge-playing their favorite games.Circling back to Adams, the 33-year-old's warning extended to the NFL and other professional leagues."Look at NFL, look at all the leagues and watch them plummet, mate. Just for the month of November, performance is going to go down. It should come back up though. Most of the boys will get it done, but hopefully they finish the game."Adams' warning about the NFL touches on a widely discussed theory that, in particular, NFL quarterback Kyler Murray has had performance dips when Call of Duty games have been released.RELATED: This top video game company is betting its future on something gamers hate Lewis Hamilton is so eager to play GTA VI that he is willing to cancel all his work to play it #f1 The "Kyler Murray Call of Duty theory" claims that Murray's performance drops upon the release of new Call of Duty titles, which come out yearly, and continues to suffer in subsequent weeks.The theory claims Murray's fantasy stats between 2019 and 2021 suffered in conjunction with Call of Duty releases, and there's even advanced analytics that claim Murray typically has slight dips in performance when the games have "double XP" weekends.Fans are expecting the same from the quarterback when GTA 6 drops, and maybe he should take them up on that considering the aforementioned theory landed him a sponsorship from the game in 2024.Other athletes to toss out the idea of GTA 6 being a focus in their life were young soccer stars Tyler Fredricson and Lamine Yamal.Fredricson, 21, said he is "all ready for GTA 6," while Yamal, 19, inexplicably posted a GTA VI logo to his social media after winning the 2026 World Cup.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!