Yesterday, the “NBA 2K League” had its inaugural draft. If you haven’t heard about the NBA 2K League, it’s actually pretty cool—even if you are not a big fan of esports.
The NBA 2K League is a joint venture between the National Basketball Association and Take Two Interactive, the publishers of the popular NBA 2K video game series. At the very least, the NBA and Take Two are making the NBA 2K League appear to be very successful.
17 NBA teams are participating in the inaugural season of the league, and the hope is that eventually all 30 teams will be represented. To avoid confusion with the real NBA teams, there are unique logos and team names for each of the NBA 2K League teams. This first season will start in May 2018 and run through August.
NBA 2K League rosters are made up of six gamers, and they use their Pro-Am characters; so the in-game characters utilize archetypes, which are basically a style of play that doesn’t allow any player to be maxed out in all attributes. Yesterday’s draft featured 102 selections, starting with the Mavericks’ Mavs Gaming selecting “Dimez” AKA Artreyo Boyd with the first overall pick. It was a snake-style draft, similar to most fantasy sports drafts.
There are front offices—maybe not physical offices, but the NBA 2K League teams need to be run like a real organization. Shaq runs the Kings’ team, Kings Guard Gaming, so real-life stars clearly believe it’s an interesting concept.
The 102 participants in the league make $32,000-$35,000, including benefits, for a six-month contract, and there is also prize money of $1 million up for grabs throughout the season. At yesterday’s event, the gamers even walked across the stage and shook NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s hand like it was the real NBA Draft. It’s still early, but the NBA 2K League clearly looks promising.
So why have the NBA and Take Two been able to roll out the red carpet and launch an exciting sports league that’s akin to the real NBA while other sports video games have not gotten the same press?
For one, the NBA and Take Two have done things the right way. They have made the NBA 2K League like a fourth league (there’s also the NBA, the WNBA, and the G League). Judging from yesterday’s draft event—along with the structure of the teams and the unique branding and logos—the esports league is being treated like a legitimate league. It’s difficult to imagine anything that could’ve been done to make the launch of the NBA 2K League any better.
Also, the opportunity was available for anyone (that is over the age of 18 or graduated high school) attempt to make the final cut of 102 gamers. This meant a lot of hype was built up as people pushed to make the NBA 2K League’s inaugural season. Thousands of gamers going for a limited number of spots ensured there will be quality competition across the entire league.
Finally, perhaps the biggest reason the NBA 2K League has the opportunity to be a major success is the gameplay of NBA 2K. Sure, there are some things gameplay-wise that might be annoying or buggy, but overall the physics and realism of 2K’s acclaimed basketball game is stunning—especially when comparing it to other sports video games series.
The most obvious comparison is with EA’s Madden series. There is no question that football is the most popular sport in the United States, but the video game for the sport is severely lacking. Madden’s gameplay is extremely unrealistic, and its game modes do not have much realism to them. EA has the Madden Championship, but that is not done nearly as well as the NBA and Take Two are doing the NBA 2K League.
There are some things that make an NBA esports league more plausible—like there being five players on the court per team compared to 11 on the field per team for football, and much smaller roster sizes in general (around 14 for the NBA compared to 53 for the NFL)—but NBA 2K is still the difference.
In NBA 2K, the game modes and gameplay are actually realistic. You can put the sliders to “Simulation”, play a full 48-minute game, and get realistic stats like the real NBA. If you attempted a full-60 minute game in Madden, your scores would probably be at least 56-49 every time.
In NBA 2K, you can set your defensive settings and matchups, choose who to run your offense through, and allocate your minutes accurately, among other things. Then for the actual gameplay, guys can catch fire, get cold, act as spark plugs off the bench, or come in as a defensive stopper—again, among other things.
In Madden, there isn’t realistic strategy or momentum. You can’t put certain cornerbacks or linebackers on certain receivers, tight ends, or running backs. The formation subs are broken. You can’t even have a running-back-by-committee or split backfield, which has become extremely common in the NFL. There is no “getting in the zone” or getting cold—much of the game is apparently based off luck.
How awesome would it be to have a realistic simulation football game that allows a hyper-extensive esports league? Looking at Madden’s career and franchise modes, it doesn’t appear to be even close to a possibility anytime soon.
If 2K was allowed to create an NFL football game (EA has had an exclusive license since 2005), I have no doubt there would be an esports NFL league getting started soon.
Instead, consumers are stuck with a subpar football game with unrealistic gameplay while NBA 2K has the best sports video game out (by far) and launched a full-fledged esports basketball league.
Football fans can only dream.
omg I wish there was an nfl league like this I would be so in it
Madden championships are stupid.. This 2K league actually looks good.
They really get played to play a video game. Geez.
they did a great job with this. Madden is a joke.