This NBA 2K League’s annual Tipoff tournament will be played on June 16–19, the league announced Monday.
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The Tipoff customarily marks the beginning of the league season, but was pushed back this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. With the league announcing an extension of its remote gameplay format, the announcement of the Tipoff tournament—the first of three tournaments comprising the Banner Chain—soon followed.
All 23 teams will participate in the tournament. Games will begin at 6 p.m. ET on June 16 – 17 and at 7 p.m. on June 18 – 19, and will air live on ESPN2, ESPN’s digital platforms and the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
UPDATE: The league unveiled more details, including the groups, for next week’s Tipoff tournament on Thursday.
Via NBA 2K League/Twitter
Each team will play four games during the group stage, with group winners plus one wild card entrant moving on to the knockout phase of the tournament. Each matchup during the knockout round will be in a best-of-three format, similar to the regular season.
The total prize pool for the tournament sits at $160,000. The winner of the Tipoff will earn $70,000, the tournament runner-up will receive $50,000, and third- and fourth-place will get $20,000 each.
76ers GC won the Tipoff Tournament in two consecutive seasons, but currently sits 0-6 at the bottom of the league standings. The runners-up haven’t had great seasons themselves: 2018 second-place finishers Blazer5 Gaming, with a record of 4-3, has more regular-season losses than in any previous season, while 2019 runners-up Celtics Crossover Gaming joins 76ers GC in the league basement with a record of 0-5.
