As part of helping to create the USA National Gaming Team, USA Basketball has invited thirty of the top NBA 2K players to try out for the USA Basketball E-National Team. The trials are set to be held virtually Nov. 7-8 and will be used to help select a national team that will represent the United States at the FIBA Esports Open II in the North and Central American Conference on Dec. 19-20. The USA team will be a mixed-gender squad consisting of seven players that will compete against other teams from Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, and Puerto Rico for a conference championship.
In order to be eligible to compete, gamers must be a U.S. citizen who is at least 16-years-old and have a minimum My Career Character rating of 95.
The USA Basketball E-National Team trials will feature 30 players who will be split into six different teams for the first trials session, competing in a round-robin tournament. During the trials, the USA Basketball E-National Team selection panelists can make changes to teams in order to allow players to compete with and against a variety of other players in order to allow the panelists to select a competitive team to represent USA Basketball at the FIBA Esports Open.
The list of 30 players accepting tryout invitations consists of 23 men and seven women from across the United States.
Invitees:
- Amber Sammons – “ABPureblood20”/HeartCrushers
- Wendi Fleming – “ALittleLady87”/BallHerAlert
- Aaron Rookwood – “Arooks”/Bucks Gaming
- Michael Key – “BearDaBeast”/T-Wolves Gaming
- Charles Bostwick – “CB13”/Warriors Gaming Squad
- Chiquita Evans – “Chiquitae126”/BallHerAlert
- Rafel Davis – “Crush”Kings/Guard Gaming
- Ryan Conger – “Dayfr”/Wizards District Gaming
- Artreyo Boyd – ”Dimez”/Mavs Gaming
- Alaina Haney – “DjLayyy”/HeartCrushers
- Mihad Feratovic – “FEAST”/T-Wolves Gaming
- Dayvon Curry – “G O O F Y 7 5 7”/Grizz Gaming
- Samuel Salyers – “Gradient”/Warriors Gaming Squad
- Hazel Childress – “HazelChildress”/BallHerAler
- Juan Gonzalez – “Hotshot”/Heat Check Gaming
- Brianna Novin – “icygrl”/BallHerAlert
- Ziah Minor – “iKilledZiah”/HeartCrushers
- John Mascone – “JBM”/Wizards District Gaming
- Kenneth Hailey – “Kenny Got Work”/Raptors Uprising GC
- Jake Knapp – “Legit 973”/Raptors Uprising GC
- Nidal Nasser – “Mama Im Dat Man”/Kings Guard Gaming
- Dayne Downey – “OneWildWalnut”/Blazer5 Gaming
- Malik Hobson – “OriginalMalik”/Knicks Gaming
- Ethan White – “Radiant”/76ers GC
- Ramo Radoncic – “Ramo”/Pistons GT
- Reginald Nash Jr. – “Regg”/Bucks Gaming
- Spencer Wyman – “Ria”/Jazz Gaming
- Gerald Knapp – “Sick One”/Raptors Uprising GC
- Eric Donald – “Timelycook513”/Raptors Uprising GC
- Zaeya Ishak – “Zae”/Hornets Venom GT
The players will be selected by the USA Basketball E-National Team selection panelists consisting of NBA 2K League Community Ambassador Graham Borden; Wizards District Gaming Team Manager Patrick Crossan; Utah Jazz Gaming Coach Jelani Mitchell; Aerial Powers, a 2015 World University Games gold medalist and a forward with the WNBA Washington Mystics; and USA Basketball Youth & Sport Development Assistant Director Andrea Travelstead.
This will be the first year that USA Basketball will be involved in esports and this particular event. However, this will be the second go round for the FIBA Esports Open which took place last June. That event saw five conferences with 114 players from 17 national federations participating. This year the FIBA Esports Open II field has been expanded to 38 national teams in seven regional conferences.
Each national team will consist of up to seven players, five on the court and two reserves. Games will be played remotely on NBA 2K21 using the Pro-AM mode which will allow for the customization of gamer avatars and uniforms.
The NBA2K franchise is published by 2K Sports, a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive.
