While the Dallas Mavericks wait to return action, the franchise’s e-sports squad is ready to go. Mavs Gaming will tip off its 2020 season May 5, but with a twist.
The NBA 2K League 2020 season was supposed to start in late March; however, COVID-19 delayed things.
But Tuesday night, basketball is back when the league begins at least six weeks of remote play.
“Under normal circumstance, we’d all travel out to New York to play our regular-season games," said Mavs Gaming player Peter Malin. "It's virtually the same. The only thing that's different right now is the in-person experience which definitely is unbeatable."
“I definitely enjoy the interaction, the fist pumps, the high fives, you know getting hyped together,” said Mavs Gaming player Josh McHatten.
Online play presents a challenge for Mavs Gaming head coach LT Fairley.
“I can’t see body language," said Fairley. "I’m also watching through a screen that sometimes is delayed 1, 2, 3 seconds. It’s been a challenge definitely for the most part."
Mavs gamers practice more than six hours a day and now part of that time is spent communicating with technical experts.
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“This is something much new for the league," said Malin. "They’ve never really been able to see all compete all online and they have to figure out the technical aspect on their side of it so we’ve been doing testing for the broadcasting and testing for everything else that involves us playing online.”
But all this hard work to get back on the “virtual” floor could prove to be beneficial to everyone involved with NBA 2K.
“I think it’s just the happiness we’ll be able to provide people with some type of entertainment," said Fairley. "Definitely in hard times like this so we’re looking to be the next big thing that’s all over social media or on all sports platforms.”
Growing an audience while giving starving sports fans something to cheer about.
