By Canadian Press

Raptors Uprising to face old foe in 2019 season opener of NBA 2K League

Mar 19, 2019 | 12:00 PM

TORONTO — Raptors Uprising GC will renew acquaintances with Cavs Legion GC, the team that knocked it out of the 2018 playoffs, in its 2019 NBA 2K League season opener April 11.

Raptors Uprising opened the inaugural season of the esports league at 1-5 before finding its mojo to finish fourth in the circuit and make the playoffs at 8-6. Cavs Legion stopped the Toronto team’s progress in the quarterfinals, however.

The Cleveland team was then beaten in the semfinals by Knicks Gaming, which swept Heat Check Gaming 2-0 (69-66, 74-71) in the final to become NBA 2K League champions.

The league’s second season will actually begin April 2-6 with the Tipoff Tournament, the first of three tournaments during the 2019 campaign. Raptors Uprising will face Mavs Gaming and Cavs Legion on April 2.

Teams were allowed to retain two players from their 2018 roster with Kenneth (Kenny) Hailey and Trevion (All Hail Trey) Hendrix the holdovers from the Raptors Uprising squad.

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The Toronto team then reclaimed Seanquai (KingQuai614) Harris and Joshua (TsJosh) McKenna in the NBA 2K League draft earlier this month in Brooklyn, N.Y. Raptors Uprising GC also took Freddy (Doza) Mendoza in the first round (15th overall) and Georgio (OOC Slim) Bonte in the second round (35th overall).

They then used their third and fourth round picks (49th and 69th overall) to bring Harris and McKenna back into the fold. 

The two other members from the 2018 squad went elsewhere in the third round. Christopher (Detoxys) Doyle was taken by Lakers Gaming (44th overall) while Toronto native Yusuf (Yusuf_Scarbz) Abdulla went to Kings Guard Gaming (53rd overall).

Each team features six players who compete as unique characters in 5-on-5 play against other teams.

Teams will each play 16 regular-season games, which will take place Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. All regular-season games will take place at the NBA 2K League Studio in Long Island City, N.Y., and will be live-streamed on the league’s Twitch channel.

The 2019 season features 21 squads, up from 17 with the addition of Nets GC, T-Wolves Gaming, Hawks Talon GC and Lakers Gaming.

The playoffs, which will be contested in best-of-three series, are scheduled to run July 24-26. The seven teams with the best regular-season records and one team from tournament play are guaranteed playoff spots.

The best-of-five final is scheduled for Aug. 3.

The 2019 season will feature US$1.2 million in prize money with the bulk going to the champions.

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press