Sports Illustrated for Kids: Basketball combines extensive character development, character trading, club management, and arcade-style play into a unified system of gameplay. Kids can choose a team, team name, color, uniform style, and mascot, and then train players to make their team better and advance through the leagues. Athletes have three key statistics that define their abilities within the game: strength, speed, and agility. Statistics are generated randomly when a team is created, and will change during the course of the season as the player trains his or her team. Gamers will acquire skill points through training and playing, and then put those points into their statistics of choice. Once gamers have developed their winning teams, they can go head-to-head against the computer or against friends to see who has created a superior lineup. Graphic effects add to the excitement of the lineup. A player who gets faster, for example, may have smoke and flames appear under his feet when he runs. The interface of the games will be reminiscent of Sports Illustrated for Kids magazine, with modern, bold typefaces and a slick, clean look. As part of the Play Rewards system, an athlete that improves and performs well will be immortalized with a trading card. Additional bonuses of the Play Rewards system include improvements made to a player"s home stadium.