The 17 NBA teams participating in the NBA 2K esports league’s inaugural season were announced Thursday. Over the next few months, the NBA 2K esports league and its teams will announce players, team branding, league structure and other business-related updates.
“This is the first step in what promises to be an extraordinary league, bringing together the world’s best gamers and showcasing elite competition on an international stage,” newly-named NBA 2K esports league Managing Director Brendan Donohue said in a statement. “Our teams have expressed tremendous enthusiasm for esports, and we are looking forward to forming something truly unique for basketball and gaming fans around the globe.”
Here are the organizations that will field teams for 2018 when the first season begins:
- Boston Celtics
- Cleveland Cavaliers
- Dallas Mavericks
- Detroit Pistons
- Golden State Warriors
- Indiana Pacers
- Memphis Grizzlies
- Miami Heat
- Milwaukee Bucks
- New York Knicks
- Orlando Magic
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Portland Trail Blazers
- Sacramento Kings
- Toronto Raptors
- Utah Jazz
- Washington Wizards
Below are comments to SportTechie from three teams in the first season of the NBA 2K esports league.
“MLSE and the Toronto Raptors are excited and very enthusiastic about the magic esports represents — not only to speak to a new audience but talk to our existing audience in a new way. We are working hard to be ready for our first season of competition and we believe the future for the endeavour is very, very bright.”
— Dave Hopkinson, Chief Commercial Officer, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment
“The NBA and the Sixers are approaching this league as the fourth in the NBA family — the NBA, the WNBA, the D-League and now NBA 2K; as such, this new team will have access to both the team and league’s strongest resources to it areas stretching from business operations and infrastructure, to corporate partnerships and fan access, to player development and training. Our experience with Team Dignitas over the past few months gives us an incredible advantage as we launch this new league. Our ability to pull eSports expertise and industry acumen from our Team Dignitas executives and best practices in organizational infrastructure, branding and marketing, corporate partnerships and fan engagement from our Sixers front office will make this new league the quintessential combination of eSports and sports.”
— Chad Biggs, Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnership and Activation, Philadelphia 76ers
“Utilizing technology to grow the game of basketball is core to our organizational mission. We’re excited to join the league from the beginning, work with the NBA to reach new audiences around the globe and provide our voice to the conversation about the future of sports.”
— Vivek Ranadivé, Sacramento Kings, Owner/Chairman
Of the participating teams, the Philadelphia 76ers became the first U.S. professional sports team to purchase esports franchises last fall, leading to other organizations beginning their foray into esports as well. That same week, NBA owners Ted Leonsis (Washington Wizards) and Peter Guber (Golden State Warriors) joined forces with Hall of Famer Magic Johnson to form aXiomatic, an esports ownership group, and purchase a controlling stake in Team Liquid. This past September, Memphis Grizzlies co-owner Steve Kaplan also increased his stake in Immortals.
Other NBA teams like the Dallas Mavericks and Sacramento Kings previously expressed their interest this year in joining the new esports league, which was originally announced in February by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Kings co-owners Andy Miller and Mark Mastrov also co-own NRG eSports.
Additionally, the Toronto Raptors told SportTechie six weeks ago that it planned to be on the “ground floor” of the new NBA 2K league.
Earlier this year, Boston Celtics Managing Partner, Governor and Chief Executive Officer Wyc Grousbeck said on a Forbes SportsMoney podcast that the team would be opting in to the new esports league.
Both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat also had prior ties to esports before today’s announcement, with the former NBA franchise’s owner Wesley Edens having formed a League of Legends team earlier this year. Around the same time, the Heat acquired a stake and partnership in Team Misfits to help with sponsorship activation, branding, marketing and digital, among other business focus areas.