Is Kai Cenat really quitting streaming? Kai’s ‘professional basketball’ tease, explained

The streaming world’s erupted in confusion after Kai Cenat suggested he may actually walk away from streaming to pursue a career in professional basketball—a claim he made a long 46 hours into his huge Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice marathon stream.

Now, wilder things have happened in the world of streaming entertainment, but it’s rare to see any superstar streamer at the height of their powers pack it in for a huge career change, let alone trying to make it in a hyper-competitive sporting league. There are plenty, however, who believe Kai’s shocking claim may well carry a kernel of truth.

Is Kai Cenat leaving streaming for basketball?

As far as Dot Esports can surmise, Kai Cenat’s claim he’s leaving streaming behind “until further notice” to grind out a basketball career is not true. It’s more likely the 22-year-old star has something he’ll be hosting for the start of the 2024 NBA season, which begins with preseason games in early October, that he’s now drumming up hype for.

Kai’s basketball claim from his 46-hour Sekiro marathon stream was as follows: “Until further notice I’m quitting streaming, okay? I’ll no longer be streaming. You may ask what am I doing? I’m now completing phase two of being a professional basketballer. You might be like, what the fuck? But don’t laugh. I get drafted in a few days—I’m in the draft. I’m in the lottery, so don’t laugh… I will be in a professional basketball league.”

He then followed the on-stream comments up with a tweet on X (formerly Twitter) that suggested something similar alongside a “goodbye” to his fans.

There are some coincidences that suggest he may be playing somewhere though. The star streamer’s mention of a draft doesn’t line up at all with the NBA’s schedule—the 78th NBA Draft night was in June—but the NBA’s minor league competition, the G League, did host its annual player intake around this time last year.

The variety streamer will be looking for something to do next to entertain his fans now that he’s exhausted the FromSoftware catalog. He famously overcame Elden Ring as well as Bloodborne and now he’s finally beaten Sekiro. Like IShowSpeed, who’s turned to touring other countries to meet fans and perform stunts, Kai may well need something bigger and better to build more hype across his fandom through 2024 and beyond.

Kai does have experience playing high-level basketball already too, with the 22-year-old appearing in Shannon Sharpe’s lineup at the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game this year. He was widely lambasted for attempting just a single shot and making one block.

While it’s very, very unlikely Kai is walking away from his million-dollar streaming empire to play basketball at any lofty level, it’s hard to totally rule anything out right now.