By: Jordan Cardoso
What is NBA 2K?
NBA 2K is the most popular, and best selling series of basketball video games. This video game series has been releasing annually since 1999. The concept of this game series is to emulate the sport of basketball, the NBA, and present improvements of previous editions. With each new installment getting better each year this year’s edition has sold 10 million copies since it’s release in September. I love the MyPlayer grind,the new Takeover system and the Jordan Rec Center. The upgrades to the game keep me coming back every year!
What is ESports and What is the NBA 2K League?
ESports is an organized form of competition using video games that has been growing for years now. Teams are formed with professional players that compete against one another in tournaments or seasons like the NBA 2K league. The NBA 2K league is a joint venture between The NBA and Take-Two Interactive. There had been talks and rumors about the league finally becoming a thing until when it was finally announced to the public on February 9th, 2017. On May 4th, 2017 it was decided that 17 of the 30 NBA teams would have their own 2K teams. With the Inaugural season underway for 2018, a partnership was announced between Twitch and NBA 2K. Twitch is a popular online service used for watching and streaming digital broadcast. Therefore the games for the 2018 inaugural season were live streamed through Twitch. The inaugural season started on May 1st, 2018, and went through until August 25th, 2018. With the champions of the inaugural season being Knicks Gaming. The draft this year will be held on March 5th at the Barclays Center in New York. With the season beginning on April 2nd each team will play 16 games.4 new organizations are joining the league joining the league this year as well. Those being Lakers Gaming, T-Wolves Gaming, Hawks Talon GC and Nets GC. Games are live streamed on Twitch Wednesdays (6pm-11pm ET), Thursdays (6pm-10pm ET) and Fridays (6pm-11pm ET). Grand Prize money for this year’s champions will be 1.2 million dollars!
Wizards District Gaming
The Washington Wizards were one of the 17 out of 30 teams who received a 2k league team. They are known as Wizards District Gaming (Wizards DG). The team manager for Wizards DG is Patrick Crossan. Crossan led the team to a record of 8-6, and they made the playoffs their 1st season together. Which led to Crossan getting a contract extension for the Spring 2019 season. He’s the key to bringing the team a championship this upcoming season. With the 12th pick in the 1st 2k league draft Wizards, DG selected at PG Johnathon Fields (Demon JT) from Chicago, IL. JT averaged 12.9 PPG along with 5 APG. They have also retained him for the Spring 2019 season. In the 2018 offseason, the Wizards made some moves too. They traded their 14th pick in the 2019 draft. By doing so, they acquired PF Ryan Conger (Dayfri) of Mavs Gaming. Dayfri was selected 34th by the Mavs and averaged 19 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. In the upcoming 2019 draft held on March 5th the team will be looking for SG, SF and C positions late in the draft. As the second season of the NBA 2K League is set to begin, stick with me for all things District Gaming. I will have player features, tournament previews/recaps and more. I’m excited about the season and seeing if District Gaming can bring a championship back to D.C. For more conversation and 2K talk follow me on Twitter @Jordan__2K