NBA 2K League

The NBA 2K League (NBA2KL or simply 2K League) is an esports league joint venture between the National Basketball Association and Take-Two Interactive. The league was announced on February 9, 2017.[1] On May 4, 2017 it was revealed that 17 of the 30 NBA teams would have their own NBA 2K League team during the inaugural season in 2018.[2] On April 18, 2018, the NBA 2K League and Twitch announced a multiyear partnership to live stream all games.[3] The inaugural season began on May 1, 2018 and on August 25, 2018, Knicks Gaming won the inaugural 2K League championship. For season 2, the rights to live stream the league's games went to YouTube and twitch the second season began on April 16, 2019 and ended on August 3, with T-Wolves Gaming winning the championship. The third season was going to be starting on March 31, 2020 but the season was postponed to May 5, 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. On May 5, 2020, NBA 2K and ESPN agreed to broadcast the games on ESPN2 and the ESPN App. The third season actually began on May 5, 2020 with 6 weeks of remote play. On June 9, 2020 remote play got extended from 6 weeks to 11 weeks. On July 18, 2020 the league announced that remote play will once again be extended from 11 weeks to 15 weeks including the ticket, the final in-season tournament.

NBA 2K League
GameNBA 2K
FoundedFebruary 9, 2017 (2017-02-09)
New York City, New York, U.S.[1][2]
Inaugural season2018
Owner(s)NBA 2K League, LLC.
(NBA (50%)
Take-Two Interactive (50%)
CommissionerBrendan Donohue
MottoThis is not a game
No. of teams23
CountriesUnited States (21 teams)
Canada (1 team)
China (1 team)
HeadquartersNew York City, New York
Most recent
champion(s)		Wizards District Gaming
(1st title)
(2020)
Most titlesKnicks Gaming (1 title)
T-Wolves Gaming (1 title)
Wizards District Gaming (1 title)
TV partner(s)
Official website2kleague.nba.com

On August 15th remote play will continue until the end of the season.

On September 2020 the league designed a new draft system with the nba2kleague draft prospect series to be drafted in 2021 nba2kleague draft.[4]

Qualifying

In order to qualify for the league draft, a player needs to be over the age of 18 and own NBA 2K on either PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Players had to win a number of games in Pro-Am mode and submit a following application.[5] Following that, the players who qualified participated in a combine that ran from February 2–21, 2018.[6] Only a select number of applicants received invites to the draft.[7] The NBA 2k league has announced a new tryout process for the upcoming 2021 season. Click here for the full announcement.[8]

Format

The inaugural season lasted for 17 weeks, beginning with the tip-off tournament from May 1–5, with the first weekly match ups taking place on May 11–12. There was an additional two tournaments during the season before the playoffs began on August 17, concluding with the NBA 2K League Finals on August 25. All games were live streamed on Twitch and available to view on demand after the live broadcasts.[3]

The league used Pro-Am mode for the games, which consisted of 5-on-5 matches where players used archetypes with preset skills instead of their own MyPlayer or NBA players to keep the ratings similar to everyone.[5][9]

A special build of the newest NBA 2K game is used for the league, with equipment provided by Alienware and Intel.[10] HyperX is the league's headset sponsor, while Scuf Gaming provides controllers for all matches.[11] To go along with the league sponsors, each team also has various sponsors and displays the logos of the sponsors on their in-game uniforms. All games are played at the NBA 2K League Studio in New York.[9]

Weekly match-ups and tournaments

The first 2 regular seasons takes place over 15 weeks with 12 weeks for weekly match ups and the other three being for tournaments. All teams will play in a minimum of 19 games, including 14 regular season games and the tournament games. The tournament games will not count towards regular season records, but will be used as a tiebreaker for the postseason. Weekly match ups will take place on Fridays and Saturdays.

The tip-off tournament contained a $100,000 prize and featured pool play with teams competing in four groups over the course of five days. The top two teams from each group advanced to the single elimination playoff rounds. For The Turn and The Ticket, seeding was determined by the records of each team over the four weeks since the previous tournament. The tournaments were single elimination and contained a play-in game between the 16th and 17th seeds. The Turn and The Ticket contained prize pools of $150,000, with the winner of The Ticket receiving an automatic playoff berth.

For the third season the league will begin with 6 weeks of remote play with matchups on Tuesday -Friday from 7–11 pm e.t. With 2 games at 7 pm e.t. And 2 games at 9 pm e.t. which to get a regular season you have to win a best of 3 series[12]

On June 9, 2020 during the nba2kleague broadcast the league Announced that remote play will continue through July 17 (week 11 of regular season) and also announced that the tip off tournament will be held remotely on June 16–19

On July 18, 2020 NBA 2k announced that remote play will continue until the remainder of the season including the ticket the final in season tournament which will take place on Aug 13-15 the turn will be held remotely from July 22–25, 2020 [13]

New this season for the ticket, only the teams not making the playoffs will be in the tournament the 10 th seed in the regular season will be in the ticket finals while the remainder of the teams will battle it out for the other spot in the finals[14]

On August 15th during the nba2kleague broadcast remote play will continue through The playoffs with the playoffs set for August 20–22 with the finals on August 29th

The Tréfecta

The winner of each tournament will receive a steel championship banner. If a team wins all three, they will achieve the Tréfecta, with all three banners forming "The Banner Chain".[15]

Salaries and benefits

All players signed six month contracts and will have their relocation and housing costs covered by the league, as well as benefits such as medical insurance and a retirement plan. Food, transportation, and housing will also be covered during the season when teams travel for games.[16]

Players drafted in the first round will make $35,000, while the rest of the players will make $32,000. There will be four other opportunities throughout the season to win money as $1 million will be split between three tournaments and the league championship. Players are also allowed to sign endorsement deals to earn extra income.[9][16] In the off season some players stay sharp and give back to the 2K community by coaching at The GamerU. One player said it's one of my biggest joys helping people grow and get better at the game of 2K because it has done so much for me.

Teams

On December 11, 2017, the official logo for the NBA 2K League was revealed,[17] with the logos for each of the 17 teams being revealed over the course of the following days.[18][19][20] On August 15, 2018, it was announced that the league would expand to 21 teams in 2019 with the addition of teams from Atlanta, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and Minnesota.[21]

TeamNBA team ownerInaugural season
76ers GCPhiladelphia 76ers2018
Blazer5 GamingPortland Trail Blazers2018
Bucks GamingMilwaukee Bucks2018
Cavs Legion GCCleveland Cavaliers2018
Celtics Crossover GamingBoston Celtics2018
Gen.G Tigers of ShanghaiNone2020
Grizz GamingMemphis Grizzlies2018
Hawks Talon GCAtlanta Hawks2019
Hornets Venom GTCharlotte Hornets2020
Heat Check GamingMiami Heat2018
Jazz GamingUtah Jazz2018
Kings Guard GamingSacramento Kings2018
Knicks GamingNew York Knicks2018
Lakers GamingLos Angeles Lakers2019
Magic GamingOrlando Magic2018
Mavs GamingDallas Mavericks2018
Nets GCBrooklyn Nets2019
Pacers GamingIndiana Pacers2018
Pistons GTDetroit Pistons2018
Raptors Uprising GCToronto Raptors2018
T-Wolves GamingMinnesota Timberwolves2019
Warriors Gaming SquadGolden State Warriors2018
Wizards District GamingWashington Wizards2018

Rosters

References
  1. "NBA and Take-Two to launch 'NBA 2K eLeague'". National Basketball Association. February 9, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  2. "17 NBA teams to take part in inaugural NBA 2K esports league in 2018". National Basketball Association. May 4, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  3. "NBA 2K League to Tip Off Inaugural Season on Twitch". NBA 2K League. April 18, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  4. "NBA 2KL Draft Prospect Series". NBA 2K League. Retrieved 2020-11-07.
  5. Mazique, Brian (December 5, 2017). "NBA 2K League: How To Qualify, Salary Info, Draft Process, Twitter Account, Rules And More". Forbes. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  6. "Introducing the NBA 2K League Combine". NBA 2K League. January 25, 2018. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  7. Youngmisuk, Ohm (April 3, 2018). "Commissioner Adam Silver to announce 1st pick at NBA 2K League draft". ESPN. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  8. "NBA 2K League Announces New Tryout Process for Season 4". NBA 2K League. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  9. Kennedy, Alex (April 4, 2018). "FAQ: Everything you need to know about the new NBA 2K League". HoopsHype. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  10. Sarkar, Samit (April 3, 2018). "NBA 2K League games to be played on PC, not PS4 or Xbox One". Polygon. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  11. Mitrevski, Lydia (May 1, 2018). "Scuf Gaming becomes official controller of NBA 2K League". Esports Insider. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  12. "League Info". NBA 2K League. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
  13. "THE TURN Powered by AT&T Primer". NBA 2K League. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  14. "Everything You Need to Know about THE TICKET Powered by AT&T". NBA 2K League. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
  15. "The Banner Chain: Striving for the Tréfecta". NBA 2K League. April 27, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  16. "$1 Million Prize Pool for Inaugural NBA 2K League Season". NBA 2K League. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  17. "NBA 2K League Unveils Logo". NBA 2K League. December 11, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  18. "Team Logos Revealed: Part I". NBA 2K League. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  19. "Team Logos Revealed: Part II". NBA 2K League. December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  20. "Team Logos Revealed: Part III". NBA 2K League. December 14, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  21. "NBA 2K League Announces Four Expansion Teams for 2019 Season". NBA 2K League. August 15, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
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