The NBA 2K League (NBA2KL or simply 2K League) is an
esports
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...
league joint venture between the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
and
Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.
The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal ...
. The league was announced on February 9, 2017.
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.
As of 2022, there are 22 NBA teams that have 2K League Teams, while two international teams also compete in the league without being affiliated with any NBA teams.
Broadcast partners
On April 18, 2018, the NBA 2K League and
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...
announced a multiyear partnership to
live stream
Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but n ...
all games.
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.
NBA 2K and ESPN agreed to broadcast the games on
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
and the ESPN App for the league's third season. The third season was planned to start on March 31, 2020, but the season was postponed to May 5, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
with the first 15 weeks being played remotely, including the Ticket, the final in-season tournament.
In 2022
Stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
,
NBA TV
NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regula ...
and the league agreed to broadcast select championship games
History and format
The inaugural season lasted for 17 weeks, beginning with the tip-off tournament from May 1–5, with the first weekly matchups 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
On-demand or on demand may refer to:
Manufacturing
* Build-on-demand
* Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production
* Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until an ...
after the live broadcasts.
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.
A special build of the newest ''NBA 2K'' game is used for the league, with equipment provided by
Alienware
Alienware is an American computer hardware subsidiary of Dell. Their product range is dedicated to gaming computers which can be identified by their alien-themed designs. Alienware was founded in 1996 by Nelson Gonzalez and Alex Aguila, and is ...
and
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
.
HyperX is the league's headset sponsor, while Scuf Gaming provides controllers for all matches.
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.
In September 2020, the league designed a new draft system for the 2021 season.
In August 2021, the league announced that in-person events would return to play during the 2021 playoffs, which was held August 26–28, 2021. Also in August, the league announced its first all-star game that was played on September 25.
For the fifth season, the league removed the traditional league play in favor of extra tournaments that would help eventually determine the champion. Each team will still play roughly the same amount of games as they would have, but now each game has more stakes than before.
The season will consist of six tournaments throughout the season followed by the playoffs in
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...
. Only one of the tournaments, the Banner Chain, as well as the playoffs, will feature exclusively league teams. The other tournaments can feature non league teams, including amateur players. The season will include 3v3 tournaments to allow amateurs a chance to play against the pros.
Player eligibility and benefits
Initial season
In order to qualify for the league draft, a player needed to be over the age of 18 and own ''
NBA 2K
''NBA 2K'' is a series of basketball sports simulation video games developed by Visual Concepts and released annually since 1999. The premise of the series is to emulate the sport of basketball, and more specifically, the National Basketball A ...
'' on either
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
or
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
. Players had to win a number of games in Pro-Am mode and submit an application.
Following that, the players who qualified participated in a combine that ran from February 2–21, 2018.
Only a select number of applicants received invites to the draft.
The NBA 2k league has announced a new tryout process for the upcoming 2021 season.
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.
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.
Teams
On December 11, 2017, the official logo for the NBA 2K League was revealed,
with the logos for each of the 17 teams being revealed over the course of the following days.
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.
The league grew to 23 teams in 2020 with the additions of Charlotte
and Gen.G, the first team outside of North America.
The league expanded to Mexico in 2022 with the addition of Dux Gaming, who became the 24th team in the league.
The league will expand to Australia in 2023 with the introduction of NBL Oz Gaming, operated by Australia's
National Basketball League, as the 25th team.
References
External links
Official website
{{NBA 2K
2017 establishments in the United States
Sports leagues established in 2017