NBA 2K League is esports’ 3-pointer in new ballgame
With television cameras rolling, NBA commissioner Adam Silver this month conducted with absolute seriousness the first-ever draft of basketball professionals who can’t shoot threes or dribble between their legs but are really good at playing the most popular hoops video game of all time, “NBA 2K.”
Instead of real NBA hopefuls such as Deandre Ayton, Luka Doncic or Marvin Bagley III, the seats at the draft were filled by the likes of Albano Thomallari, Mitchell Franklin and Dayne Downey. None of them were picked first. Though ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had already provided the scoop hours earlier, Silver made the announcement official: “With the first pick in the 2018 NBA 2K League Draft, Mavs Gaming selects Artreyo Boyd, aka Dimez, from Cleveland, Ohio.”
Boyd, 23, proceeded in nearly the same way we’ve watched top picks claim their prize in years past: He received a hat bearing his new team’s logo, he approached the stage as the crowd cheered and he shook hands with the NBA commissioner. In a moment that seemed eerily familiar, the NBA had just inducted the very first player to its fourth professional league after the WNBA and the minor-league-esque G League. “That’s exactly as we’re treating it: one more professional league,” Silver said.
The NBA 2K League is the first foray into the growing world of esports by any of the major American sports. Esports overall generated more than $655 million as a global industry in 2017, a 32 percent increase over the previous year. Newzoo, a market research firm based in Amsterdam, has estimated that by 2020 the esports economy will grow to $1.4 billion generated by league sponsorships and tickets sales to fans who fill arenas to watch people playing shooters and multiplayer combat titles like “Overwatch” or “League of Legends.” It remains to be seen whether fans will clamor for virtual basketball and other sports with the same fervor, especially when they have the ability to watch the real thing.
But if any operation has the social media and marketing muscle to push something new into the mainstream, it’s the NBA, which has 1.4 billion social followers globally. A little bit of celebrity help can go a long way in the gaming community: Just last month, video-game network Twitch broke its record for most-viewed stream by a single player when professional gamer Ninja was joined by the likes of rappers Drake and Travis Scott and Pittsburgh Steeler JuJu Smith-Schuster to play “Fortnite.” The celebrity assists garnered an audience that topped out at 635,000 concurrent viewers, shattering the previous record of 388,000.
The NBA wisely chose Take-Two Interactive Software as its partner for the esports foray. Take Two’s “NBA 2K” title first came out in 1999 and has since developed into one of the most popular sports game franchises of all time.
The NBA’s esports league will feature the world’s best virtual ballers playing a
schedule of at least 19 games in the traditional five-on-five format, which will take place over a 14-game regular season and three tournaments. Each gamer has chosen a position and set of skills and attributes that cater to their playing style. Top pick Dimez, for example, is a 6foot-5 playmaking point guard. He’ll be joined on the team by five other professional gamers.
More than 70,000 hopefuls tried out for the league but only 102 earned a spot on one of the 17 teams, all of which are backed by NBA franchises. The gamers were studied and scouted by executives like any NCAA prospect entering a draft of their own. Each 2K League team has a general manager such as Kings Guard’s Shaquille O’Neal, and its own scouts, such as Knicks Gaming’s Jerry Ferrara. The team execs spent hours strategizing with on how they’d create their six-man rosters. Ferrara, who starred as Turtle on HBO’s “Entourage,” analyzed video game film of all 102 of the draftees in preparation, and the team’s gaming analyst, Devan Malholtra, conducted 15-minute interviews with 95 of them, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell.
Each first-round pick will earn a salary of $35,000 plus benefits over six months, and everybody else will earn $32,000, with the opportunity to win $1 million in prize money. “Gaming is not your typical ‘play your game for fun’ anymore,” Shaka Browne (aka Yeah I Compete), Jazz Gaming’s first-round pick, told CBS News. “You can really make a life out of this now, make a career.”
The league is currently figuring out which online and television platforms will be the official live-streaming partners for its inaugural season, but it’s safe to bet that games will be available to watch on the NBA’s Twitch and YouTube channels. And if you’re familiar with the surreal nature of esports arena events, don’t be surprised if you see packed crowds turn out to witness “NBA 2K” stars participate in these tournaments. Just this past week in Boston, hundreds of spectators gathered at sci-fi and gamer convention PAX East for the preseason Draft Clash Tournament that showcased 10 of the newly signed players.
These crowds could easily swell to the thousands once major rap stars like Drake, who’s an ambassador for the Toronto Raptors, start to actively promote these new virtual franchises. There are few better marketing resources to have at your side than some of the most popular athletes in America. Imagine the amount of hype that LeBron James would generate if he played as himself alongside Brandon Caicedo (aka Hood is Glitchy) of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Cavs Legion GC team. Or if New York Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis joined Knicks Gaming’s Dayvon Curry (aka GOOFY757) in an exhibition match to promote the league?
The NBA set the launch of its esports league for May 1, right in the teeth of the playoffs when TV ratings are at their highest. It’ll be a pivotal moment for the esports industry. If the 2K League is a success, the National Football League is sure to follow with a variation based on the Madden game franchise. The MLS is already gearing up for its own FIFA esports league.
Daniel Chin has written about sports and culture for The Ringer and MLB.com.