On the 13th day of March, Pacers Gaming is hoping the number 13 is indeed lucky for the new franchise as the latest team in the family of Pacers Sports & Entertainment was awarded the No. 13 selection in the inaugural NBA 2K Draft Tuesday at the league's draft lottery in New York.
"It's a historical day for Pacers Gaming," said Kelly Krauskopf, Pacers Sports & Entertainment Sr. VP and head of the organization's esports enterprise. "When you consider the pool started with 72,000 players and now narrowed down to the best 102 available, I think our draft position in each round will definitely set us up to put together a great first-year team."
"I'm excited," said Cody Parrent, Pacers Gaming Director of esports Operations. "There are so many talented players in this community that I believe all the teams will be competitive out of the gate. We're just excited to get our gamers and hit the ground running."
The draft lottery, conducted at the MSG Networks 7th Avenue Studio, determined the order of selection for the NBA 2K League Draft, which will take place on Wed., April 4 at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden's Lobby in New York (1 p.m. ET). In addition to the No. 13 overall selection, Pacers Gaming will have the 22nd, 47th, 56th, 81st and 90th picks.
In the non-weighted draft lottery, each team had an equal chance to receive the first overall pick. The lottery was conducted by drawing ping-pong balls in random order from the official ball machine used for the NBA Draft Lottery. Every team had one ping-pong ball, featuring its logo, in the machine. The drawing process occurred in the following manner: All 17 balls were placed in the lottery machine and mixed for 20 seconds; then the first ball was removed. The remaining balls were mixed in the lottery machine for another 15 seconds, and then the second ball was drawn. The same process was repeated for the remainder of the ping-pong balls until all 17 had been drawn.
The April 4 draft will consist of six rounds with each team selecting six players and will be snake order, with the order of picks reversing after each round.
The NBA 2K League is a professional esports league co-founded by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. For more information about the NBA 2K League, visit www.NBA2KLeague.com.