NBA 2K League
Freddy and Alex Whelan, 20, will be the first brothers to compete in the NBA 2K League.
- Freddy and Alex Whelan will be the first brothers to compete in the NBA 2K League, the basketball association's official esports league.
- Alex was drafted #6 overall by Hornets Venom GT, the Charlotte Hornets' esports affiliate, while Freddy was drafted #31 overall by Jazz Gaming, the esports affiliate of the Utah Jazz.
- The Whelan brothers built a strong reputation within the "NBA 2K" community after beating top competition in online tournaments and uploading replays of their games to YouTube.
- The brothers will earn more than $30,000 during the four-month season starting in May. Most of their summer will be spent in their team's home city, with games hosted in New York City during the weekend.
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Freddy and Alex Whelan entered the NBA 2K League Draft confident that they would become the first family members to compete in the NBA's official esports circuit. The twin brothers spent two years establishing themselves as top prospects in "NBA 2K's" online Pro-Am competitions and now Alex and Freddy will represent Hornets Venom GT and Jazz Gaming when the NBA 2K League kicks off in May.
Freddy and Alex have been playing "NBA 2K," Take-Two Interactive's best-selling basketball simulation, since "NBA 2K11" and started competing with "NBA 2K17." In "NBA 2K," gamers can create and train an avatar to play in 5-on-5 basketball games with other players online. The NBA 2K League offers the best "2K" players in the world a chance to play for NBA affiliate squads during a four-month season.
Players auditioned for the 2020 NBA 2K League Draft through a series of online competitions in November 2019, and the Whelan brothers found out they would be draft eligible on December 16.
"It ended up dropping around I think nine o'clock or something late like that," Freddy said. "My brother got his [email] first and he got a a notification on his phone and he was all happy and stuff and he said, 'I made it, I made it.' Then I didn't get a notification on my phone, so I was there hoping it came in waves. I ended up checking my spam after like six minutes - I was heartbroken for a little bit, but it was there."
On February 22, Hornets Venom GT drafted Alex with the sixth overall pick in the 2K League Draft and Jazz Gaming selected Freddy with the 31st pick. The brothers said they built strong reputations for themselves in the "NBA 2K" community after performing well against league prospects in the game's competitive Park and Pro-AM modes.
Their Pro-AM team, Self Taught, won a $3,000 tournament online in 2018 and Alex started uploading their replays to YouTube, gaining the attention of thousands of hardcore "NBA 2K" fans in the process. Alex uses the nickname ExposeHim_ online, and Freddy is known as GetOnMyLevel41.
"We ended up playing park YouTubers and people with high rep," Freddy said. "Alex started uploading videos of us beating them and then got a lot of traction. He ended up gaining like 50,000 subscribers in the first month."
As a first round pick Alex will earn $35,000 for the 2020 season, while Freddy is eligible for a $33,000 contract as a second round pick. NBA 2K League players spend most of the season living in their team's home city, so Freddy will be in Utah while Alex spends his summer in Charlotte. It'll be a fresh journey for the 20-year-old twins, who currently work together at a Boston Market near their hometown of Stratford, Connecticut.
We'll definitely have a new experience, a different culture we're both living in,"Freddy said. "We can share what we learn and compare our experiences. It's definitely something really unique and cool."
The league flies its teams to New York City for live games each weekend, so the brothers will see their paths cross plenty of times during the season. Freddy said it would've been great to bring the chemistry he has with his brother to a 2K League team, but they've rarely had an opportunity to compete against each other.
Alex and Freddy grew up playing organized basketball in local leagues and enjoying "2K" with friends, but eventually they realized they wanted to take the game more seriously than their friends. The pair began playing in the game's competitive "playground" mode and eventually met other people who were willing to form a team for online events.
Freddy said he probably spent about 30 hours a week playing when he began playing "NBA 2K" competitively. Together with Alex, his team would organize time to practice and scrimmage against other squads. When it came time for the combine, the intense trial period when the league judges the top "2K" players, Freddy said he was playing as much as 45 hours a week, with sessions starting at 7 p.m. and running until 3 or 4 a.m.
The combine challenges "2K" players by forcing them to play with strangers rather than their usual online teammates. Players are forced to communicate and build a winning strategy on the fly while also being tested on basic in-game mechanics like shooting, defense, and positioning.
"Every single game you had to kind of figure out what your teammates wanted to do and try to help them learn some things they didn't know," Freddy said. "2K is a lot about spacing, so maybe you try to help them figure the right placement. You try to mesh your play style to how your teammates play. So we definitely had to play differently than say, with a group of teammates you're used to playing with. "
Freddy and Alex will compete alongside veteran 2K league players when the NBA launches its third season, so they'll have to see how they they fit alongside their respective rosters. When asked what they'll buy with their first NBA 2K League paycheck, the twin brothers had the same response - new shoes.
That first phone call...📲@ExposeHim__ x @NBA2KLeague Draft 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/XX9JIfsLrm
- Hornets Venom GT (@HornetsVenomGT) February 25, 2020