NBA 2K League

In order to qualify for the league draft, a player needs to be over the age of 18 and own NBA 2K on either PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Players had to win a number of games in Pro-Am mode and submit a following application.[4] Following that, the players who qualified participated in a combine that ran from February 2–21, 2018.[5] Only a select number of applicants received invites to the draft.[6]

The inaugural season lasted for 17 weeks, beginning with the tip-off tournament from May 1–5, with the first weekly match ups taking place on May 11–12. There was an additional two tournaments during the season before the playoffs began on August 17, concluding with the NBA 2K League Finals on August 25. All games were live streamed on Twitch and available to view on demand after the live broadcasts.[3]

The league used Pro-Am mode for the games, which consisted of 5 on 5 matches where players used archetypes with preset skills instead of their own MyPlayer or NBA players to keep the ratings similar to everyone.[4][7]

The archetypes to choose from were:[7]

• Point guard: Shot-Creating Slasher, Shot-Creating Sharpshooter, Slashing Playmaker, Sharpshooting Playmaker or Playmaking Shot Creator
• Shooting guard: Playmaking Slasher, Sharpshooting Defender, Slashing Shot Creator, Sharpshooting Shot Creator or Pure Sharpshooter
• Small forward: Shot-Creating Slasher, Sharpshooting Shot Creator, Pure Sharpshooter, Slashing Defender or Sharpshooting Slasher
• Power forward: Slashing Rim Protector, Rebounding Athletic Finisher, Slashing Post Scorer, Two-Way Rebounder or Sharpshooting Rim Protector
• Center: Post-Scoring Athletic Finisher, Slashing Rebounder, Pure Rim Protector, Slashing Stretch Five or Rebounding Post Scorer

A special build of NBA 2K18-20 on PC was used for the league, with equipment provided by Alienware and Intel.[8] HyperX is the league's headset sponsor, while Scuf Gaming provides controllers for all matches.[9] To go along with the league sponsors, each team also has various sponsors and displays the logos of the sponsors on their in-game uniforms. All games are played at the NBA 2K League Studio in New York.[7]

All players signed six month contracts and will have their relocation and housing costs covered by the league, as well as benefits such as medical insurance and a retirement plan. Food, transportation, and housing will also be covered during the season when teams travel for games.[11]

Players drafted in the first round will make $35,000, while the rest of the players will make $32,000. There will be four other opportunities throughout the season to win money as $1 million will be split between three tournaments and the league championship. Players are also allowed to sign endorsement deals to earn extra income.[7][11]

On December 11, 2017, the official logo for the NBA 2K League was revealed,[12] with the logos for each of the 17 teams being revealed over the course of the following days.[13][14][15] On August 15, 2018, it was announced that the league would expand to 21 teams in 2019 with the addition of teams from Atlanta, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and Minnesota.[16]

Each team protected two players from their 2018 roster prior to the expansion draft, making them ineligible to be selected by the four expansion teams.[17]

On September 26, 2018, the expansion draft for the four new teams was held.

During the first season, there were no trades allowed. For the 2019 season, two trade periods were added: September 27 – October 10, as well as a TBA period during the season. All trades must have a 1:1 ratio, meaning two picks can't be traded for one player and vice versa. Before the expansion draft each team protected two of their players from the 2018 team, while the rest of the players were eligible to be selected in the expansion draft. Following the expansion draft, teams were allowed to retain up to two more of their 2018 players who were not selected. To retain more players teams had to sacrifice picks in the 2019 draft. If a team had a player selected in the expansion draft, to retain one player they had to give up a third round pick and to retain a second player, they had to give up a second round pick. For teams who had no players selected in the expansion draft, to retain one player they gave up a second round pick and to retain two players, they gave up a first round pick.[18]

• Official website