2019 NBA 2K League Playoff Preview

STUDENT VS. TEACHER: When Celtics Crossover Gaming and Mavs Gaming collide in the Playoffs, it will be a special moment for two of the NBA 2K League’s most dynamic point guards: Celtics Crossover Gaming’s Albano “oFAB” Thomallari and Mavs Gaming’s Artreyo “Dimez” Boyd (left). oFAB credits Dimez for teaching him how to play NBA 2K. Ironically, Dimez was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 Draft and his student followed him as the No. 2 overall pick. The series begins on Wednesday, July 24 at 6 p.m. ET.

THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES: After missing out on the playoffs in the 2018 season, five teams that participated in Season One – Mavs Gaming, Kings Guard Gaming, Warriors Gaming Squad, Pacers Gaming, Celtics Crossover Gaming – will make their NBA 2K League playoff debuts. With Golden State awarded a playoff berth by winning THE TICKET powered by AT&T, the other four teams earned their spot by finishing with a top seven regular-season record. In fact, Boston, led by point guard Albano “oFAB” Thomallari (left), won nine games in a row in a late surge to clinch their first playoff berth.

ELITE EIGHT: Eight teams – Blazer5 Gaming, Mavs Gaming, 76ers GC, T-Wolves Gaming, Kings Guard Gaming, Pacers Gaming, Celtics Crossover Gaming, and Warriors Gaming Squad – have qualified for the 2019 Playoffs and will compete for a total prize pool of $720,000, with the winning team taking home $360,000 and the NBA 2K League Championship trophy. The Playoffs will tip off Wednesday, July 24, with the best-of-three quarterfinals and semifinals tak-ing place over three days of gameplay, and will culminate with the best-of-five 2019 NBA 2K League Finals on Saturday, August 3.

NEW HORIZONS: The NBA 2K League announced Tencent as its first distribution partner in China. Tencent will stream condensed 2019 Playoff and Finals games to its hundreds of millions of daily users.