Since the NBA 2K League released details on its qualifying process, players have been eagerly anticipating January 1 to get their 50 Pro-Am wins and move on to the next phase.
But while most players will talk about the grind to 50, AboutTheGame was really about it. The power forward for HG became the first known player to hit the 50-win benchmark on Tuesday morning, streaming his accomplishment on Twitch and reaching his 50th win at 2:15 a.m. EST. He hit the milestone just over 24 hours after qualifying started while teaming up with a few other NBA 2K League hopefuls in front of over 200 viewers.
“I’ve always been the type of person to try and get things I need to do out of the way early,” AboutTheGame told DIMER shortly after the accomplishment. “At first I wasn’t even thinking about it, but as I saw other people known for grinding posting how many games they played, I kind of turned it into my own personal competition.”
With his 50 wins out of the way and the rest of the month to go, will he be taking it easy? Don’t bet on it.
“I won’t be doing any of that. Even though some see me as a top player, I still have a lot to prove and this was only the first step,” he stated.
Though how quickly players get their required wins–as long as they get them before February 1–has no impact on their draft status, some are leaving little to chance, having started their journey to 50 as soon as they rung in the new year.
Players who get 50 Pro-Am wins before the end of the month, whether as part of a team or in walk-on, and fill out an application form that will be released in late January will be qualified to enter the combine phase in February. There are few known details as to how the February combine will work.