Warriors' commitment to Esports on display in NBA 2K League draft room

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SAN FRANCISCO -- Although it was tabbed as a “war room,” there was a noticeable absence of the tension and fist-clenching you’d typically expect if Warriors general manager Bob Myers, owner Joe Lacob, coach Steve Kerr, and the rest of the Golden State brass was gathered, set to make a first-round pick in the NBA Draft.

On the afternoon of Feb. 22, however, it was the Warriors Gaming Squad (WGS) that was on the clock. The NBA 2K League was hosting its third-ever player entry draft live from Terminal 5 in New York City, and the organization’s Esports brain trust gathered into a spacious conference room within the bowels of the Warriors’ new multi-billion dollar home at Chase Center.

The scene

GSW Sports Head of Esports Hunter Leigh sat at the head of the square table occupying the center of the draft headquarters, with a live stream of the event playing out behind him on a large dropdown screen.

I was sandwiched between Alex “Bsmoove” Reese -- the shooting guard for WGS who finished as an all-NBA 2K League second-team player in 2019 -- and Mujtaba Elgoode, who works in player development on the Warriors’ basketball operations staff. 

Elgoode primarily works on helping players achieve their off-the-court pursuits (he told me about one current Warrior looking to start a podcast) and he volunteered to sit in on the 2K League draft, as the organization strives to provide the same top-of-the-line treatment to Esports athletes as it does with stars like Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.

As opposed to titles like League of Legends or Apex, players competing in NBA 2K are playing basketball, albeit a simulated version. This means the scouting process for finding talent has quite a few parallels to how the Warriors' front office is preparing for the 2020 NBA Draft.

“The semi-pro scene, or whatever you wanna call the kind of pro-am scene out there is pretty robust,” Leigh told NBC Sports Bay Area. “The guys who are in the top 200, for the most part, have played a lot of formal, competitive games in a tournament of one kind or another in the offseason. So if you are clued in on that, then you’ve got a lot of film.”

WGS has scouts in the organization who are locked in on these events across the world and provide a plethora of intel to the team about which players stand out.

Players could qualify for this year's draft selection pool by winning at least 50 games during the NBA 2K20 League Qualifier, while also winning at least half of their games. There also were European and Asian Pacific qualifying tournaments, as the league tries to expand globally. Finally, players could earn a spot in the draft pool through team-hosted local qualifying tournaments. WGS was one of 11 squads that hosted an event this past fall.

The draft room for WGS had all the makings of an NBA or another professional league setup, with two dry-erase boards along one of the walls featuring a list of the team’s top prospects, ranked by importance.

WGS gets their man

The 20th overall pick in the 2K League’s third-ever draft belonged to WGS, a team with one glaring need in the starting lineup. After center Xavier “Type” Vescovi was stolen away by Hornets Venom GT with the first pick of this year’s expansion draft, Leigh and WGS team manager Rustin Lee knew they needed to replace the 2019 All-NBA 2K League Defensive Teamer.

At the top of the WGS wish list going into the draft was Malik “Slaughter” Leisinger, a former NCAA Division III basketball player who had competed in the inaugural season of the league, but wasn’t on a roster for the 2019 season.

There was one major difference between an NBA draft room and an NBA 2K League draft room: The players had as much say in the process as anyone. Reese, Jin “Jin” Choe, Charles “CB13” Bostwick, and Samuel “Gradient” Salyers all were huddled together, constantly giving Leigh input on the players selected and who other teams were planning on taking. Salyers even explained that there was a massive group chat among players from across the league’s 23 teams, talking trash to each other and exchanging intel about who would come off the board next.

Bostwick, in particular, evoked famed NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski by calling out each pick before it was announced, with uncanny accuracy. The young prophet managed to nail the first eight picks of the draft, showing off an immense knowledge base that makes sense given his status as the team’s point guard and floor general.

As the draft continued on, plenty of names were crossed off Leigh’s big board, but his top target remained available as the 16th pick came up.

The intensity ratcheted up, as Hawks Talon GC was the one team WGS worried might select one of its prized targets.

With Hawks Talon also in need of a center, you could feel the tension as Leigh saw the potential of Slaughter winding up in Atlanta instead of the Bay Area. The timer dwindled to 0:00, and all eyes were transfixed on the screen, which showed former Atlanta Hawks guard and current NBA TV analyst Steve Smith swivel around in a chair, and announce that Hawks Talon had taken Levi “Lee 2K” Lamb, which surprised even the analysts on the league’s live stream.

WGS had secured their top target after all.

“Every now and then the ping pong balls kind of bounce your way,” Leigh said immediately following the pick. “Honestly, to get a guy on the top of your list 20th in the draft, it’s fantastic. 

“These guys really feel like we left a championship on the table last year, and we’re coming for it hard.”

After three more selections, Warriors Gaming finally was on the clock.

Possessing just two of the draft’s 68 picks, WGS didn’t select again for over three hours, meaning a break for dinner was in order.

[RELATED: Golden Guardians, Esports growth at Chase excites Lacob]

The future of Esports

One thing was clear from the outset of Saturday’s draft: The Warriors view the 2K League and the organization’s other Esports franchises as much more than just a side hustle.

“Esports is obviously a huge part of the future of what we’re doing,” Warriors assistant general manager Kirk Lacob said. “We took and planted our flag a couple years ago, that we were gonna get into Esports, whether it was League of Legends or 2K League, and we’ve doubled up on that.

“It’s about the future of content, the way that people want to consume things, the things that they’re interested in.”

Lacob long has been the catalyst behind bringing Esports into the Warriors’ organization, and emphasized that he wants there to be synergy between what happens on the court and what happens on the screen.

“Whether you’re developing players off the court and they’re NBA players or G League players or they’re 2K players it doesn’t really matter, they’re still athletes,” Lacob said. “They’re still playing some variation of basketball, they’re still going through the same things in their life off the court.

“It’s all mental, psychological, so it’s really important that we cover those bases for both players.”

Despite finishing the season with a losing record, Warriors Gaming qualified for the playoffs in 2019 after winning an in-season tournament -- The Ticket -- and echoed the “We Believe” Warriors of 2007 by upsetting the top-seeded Blazer5 Gaming in the first round. WGS was eliminated by eventual champion T-Wolves Gaming in the second round, but the groundwork now has been laid for a run at the title.

Reese even made a declaration on social media before WGS packed up in San Francisco, promising big things in 2020.

With Golden State’s reign in the NBA taking a one-year, injury-forced hiatus from the top of the sport, now might be the time to get in on the ground floor of the organization’s next potential dynasty.

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