The NBA’s foray into competitive esports is set to begin on May 1, 2018 with a tip off tournament. The first tournament will be followed by a 14 week regular season and then it will all wrap up with 3 weeks of playoffs in August.
This follows the NBA 2k Draft that saw 102 gamers from all over the country be selected by 17 different organizations. Each team drafted 6 players to their roster. All 102 gamers will be relocated to their team’s respective city, receive housing, a salary, and health insurance. All first round picks will receive $35,000 and a 6 month contract with the rest of the drafted players receiving $32,000 and a 6 month contract.
The teams are backed by their NBA counterparts and there will be a $1 million dollar total prize pool in the first season. Games will be played exclusively on Friday and Saturday and broadcast online.
8 teams will make the playoffs with the quarterfinals being single elimination and the semi-finals and finals being a best of 3 series. The NBA 2K league champion will be awarded a prize of $300,000 dollars.
You can check out the full NBA 2k league schedule for both the regular season, scheduled tournaments, and playoffs below.
- May 1-5 Tip-off tournament
- May 11-12 Weekly matchup
- May 18-19 Weekly matchup
- May 25-26 Weekly matchup
- June 1-2 Weekly matchup
- June 8-9 Tournament
- June 15-16 Weekly matchup
- June 22-23 Weekly matchup
- June 29-20 Weekly matchup
- July 6-7 Weekly matchup
- July 13-14 Tournament
- July 20-21 Weekly matchup
- July 27-28 Weekly matchup
- August 3-4 Weekly matchup
- August 10-11 Weekly matchup
- August 17 Playoffs (Quarterfinals)
- August 18 Playoffs (Semifinals)
- August 25 NBA 2K League Finals
What are your thoughts on the NBA 2K League and how it is all set up? Is it something you plan on watching each week? Sound off in the comments section.