One of the fastest growing video games we’ve seen over the past few years has been the NBA 2k series. Hoops heads across the world purchase this game almost annually and recently the NBA announced that they were going to work with Take-Two Interactive to form a 2k eSports league, set to launch in 2018.
The idea behind the league is intriguing and after it was expected that all 30 teams would participate, only 17 will participate in the league’s introductory season, according to Jacob Wolf of ESPN:
The NBA has enlisted 17 of its 30 teams to participate in the upcoming NBA 2K League, a joint project between the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, it was announced Thursday morning.
The NBA 2K league will debut in 2018, and will feature the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings, Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards. Each team has agreed to participate for three years, worth about $750,000 per team, sources told ESPN.com.
The way the league is expected to operate is fascinating and shows how much technology plays a role in our consumption of sports. Each team will be comprised of five human players per team and they will play the campaign out similar to a typical NBA season.
While the concept seems exciting, there are still a lot of question marks regarding the league. Nothing has been scheduled yet outside the inaugural season taking place in 2018. While the league did settle on a managing director in Brendan Donahue, the draft date and format hasn’t even been settled on yet.
As more and more news comes out such as which seventeen teams plan on participating, the anticipation for the NBA 2k eSports leagues continues to gradually increase.
