The NBA and 2K Sports’ Esports initiative is taking its next step, and that means evaluating talent. The NBA 2K League announced its format for a combine to figure out who will play on its 17 teams when it kicks off its inaugural season.
The organization has been in the works for nearly a year now, and with the NBA and its teams officially backing the venture it’s a huge opportunity for gamers to go pro using NBA 2K. The league has slowly been putting the pieces together, and with FIFA 18 recently announced its own league in partnership with MLS it seems like pro sports leagues in America are finally getting behind the growing eSports scene.
The NBA 2K League Combine is the game’s initiative to fill out the rosters for its teams, and February is the big month for players hoping to get a shot at going pro. The league has made some changes from its initial planning, moving from 85 players to a league size of 102 to give teams more roster flexibility. A team will now draft six players to fill out its five-man team.
The qualifier’s structure is simple: Players who won 50 games during the qualifier in January will be allowed to play in the combine, which will take place from February 2-21. The game will put players who qualified onto 5-on-5 teams, with the players squaring off on different teams against nine other qualifiers in full games. The league is aiming for a balanced playing environment, pitting players with and against others with similar levels of skill.
So how do teams decide who to pick? Well, the easy answer is that they’ll be watching. The NBA 2K League plans to measure stats like points, rebounds, assists and some more advanced stats like shot release time, pass to assist and even block efficiency. Once the combine is over, players will be fully evaluated and the top 102 players will be put into a draft, where eSports teams will pick their first rosters.
Players will compete in one position, using player archetypes of preset attributes and skills to make their own player and play one position each game. The league has more information on its website if you’re wondering how it all works and when the playing windows are. And based on January’s qualifier, it seems like there will be plenty of competition next month. The league’s first season tips off in March of this year, with a season running until August when an inaugural champion is crowned.
