The NBA 2K League’s third season will tip off on Tuesday, May 5 with at least six weeks of remote gameplay, the league announced this afternoon.
The league postponed the season on March 12 over concerns regarding COVID-19. Season three was originally set to start on March 24.
Games will be played every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. ET, with four distinct matchups each night. Each team will play at least eight matches that will count toward its regular-season record.
The format will also include a new addition for the regular season: best-of-three matches for each matchup. The league said its broadcast will switch between games in real-time to “give fans more opportunities to experience the league’s most exciting moments.” A best-of-three win counts as one regular-season win toward a team’s record and a best-of-three loss counts as one regular-season loss.
The league also announced its three in-season tournaments will return, with slight modifications. All 23 teams will compete at the Tipoff and Turn tournaments, while the 14 teams not in one of the top nine playoff seeds will compete in the Ticket, with the winner earning the 10th and final spot in the NBA 2K League playoffs at the end of the season.
The league said that select teams will still host rivalry matches and round-robin events, as was previously announced when the season three schedule was originally released, and that dates for those events, plus the tournaments, will be announced at a later date.
The league said it has a production model that allows for remote broadcast in every team’s market and that its broadcasters will announce games in their homes from a “virtual NBA 2K League Studio.”
“We are thrilled to officially tip off the 2020 NBA 2K league season remotely and hope the excitement of the NBA 2K League competition provides both new and returning fans with a fun way to stay connected and engage with our league during these unprecedented times,” said Brendan Donohue, league managing director, in a press release. “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.”
The start of the regular season schedule is as follows:
