NBA and Take-Two to Launch NBA 2K eLeague

The National Basketball Association and Take-Two Interactive today announced plans to launch the NBA 2K eLeague, a new professional competitive gaming league that will bring together the best basketball gamers in the world. This marks the first official eSports league operated by a U.S. professional sports league.

Set to debut in 2018, this competitive gaming league will consist of teams operated by actual NBA franchises. The founding teams, each composed of five professional eSports players who will play the game as user-created avatars, will be announced in the coming months. The NBA 2K eLeague will follow a professional sports league format: competing head-to-head throughout a regular season, participating in a bracketed playoff system, and concluding with a championship matchup.