The NBA 2K League's third season, whose original March 24 tipoff was delayed by the global pandemic, will start May 5.
The esports campaign will open with at least six weeks of remote game play, the league said Monday in announcing the rescheduled dates.
All 23 teams, including Raptors Uprising GC, will open the season playing from their local markets with games simulcast live on the NBA 2K League's Twitch and YouTube channels.
The league, a joint venture between the NBA and video game publisher Take-Two Interactive, previously staged games at the NBA 2K League Studio in New York.
"Our players have been quarantining with their teammates as they prepare for the season and will now have the opportunity to compete against one another and show they are the best players in the world," Brendan Donohue, managing director of the NBA 2K League, said in a statement.
The exact game matchups for the opening six weeks, which takes the league through June 12, will be announced at a later date — as will remainder of the 2020 season schedule including tournaments.
Over the course of the six weeks of remote game play, each team is scheduled to play at least eight matches that will count toward its regular-season record. Each match will be played in a best-of-three format. Each three-game-series victory will represent one regular-season win, while each series defeat marks one regular-season loss.
The 2020 season will include three in-season tournaments: The Tipoff, The Turn and The Ticket. All 23 teams will compete in the first two events.
The 14 teams that are not one of the top nine playoff seeds will compete in The Ticket with the tournament winner earning the 10th and final spot in the NBA 2K League playoffs.
Knicks Gaming won the inaugural title in 2018. T-Wolves Gaming won last year, when each team played a 16-match regular season.
NBA 2K League 2020 Start-of-Season Schedule
May 5–8: Week 1
May 12–15:Week 2
May 19–22: Week 3
May 26–29: Week 4
June 2–5: Week 5
June 9–12: Week 6
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2020.
The Canadian Press
