Inaugural NBA 2K League Draft To Take Place April 4 In New York
NEW YORK, March 9, 2018 – The NBA 2K League announced today that the inaugural NBA 2K League Draft will take place on Wednesday, April 4 at 1 p.m. ET in The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden's Lobby in New York. The first-ever NBA 2K League Draft Lottery, which determines the draft order for the 17 teams, will be held on Tuesday, March 13 at 1 p.m. ET.
The draft will consist of six rounds with each team selecting six players and will be snake order, with the order of picks reversing after each round. For instance, the team with the first overall pick will have the last pick of the second round, the first pick of the third round and so on. The team with the 17th and last pick of the first round will have the first pick of the second round and the last pick of the third round. The 102 players available in the draft will have been selected by the league following an extensive tryout process that began in January.
"The NBA 2K League Draft is going to be incredible as we watch dreams become reality for our players," said NBA 2K League Managing Director Brendan Donohue. "We cannot wait to introduce the world to the first-ever NBA 2K League professionals and, most importantly, we are eager for our players to meet their teams and teammates for the first time. This will be a milestone moment for our league."
The draft lottery will be conducted by drawing ping-pong balls in random order from the official ball machine that is used for the NBA Draft Lottery. Every team will have one ping-pong ball with its logo featured. In the non-weighted lottery, each team will have an equal opportunity for the first overall pick. The draft order will be revealed on the league's Twitter account, @NBA2KLeague, beginning with pick 17 and counting down to the first pick.
Additional details on the draft and how fans can watch live will be announced at a later date.
About the NBA 2K League
The NBA 2K League is a professional esports league co-founded by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO). Launching in 2018, the league will feature the best NBA 2K players in the world. Each of the league's 17 teams will draft players to compete as unique characters in 5-on-5 play against the other teams in a mix of regular-season games, tournaments and playoffs. The league will host tryouts in early 2018, followed by a draft in April and the season tip-off in May. For more information about the NBA 2K League, visit www.NBA2KLeague.com.