Week 4 of Season 3 wrapped up last Friday and gave us a fresh set of headlines and highlights to sort through! Nets GC finally made their Season 3 debut and we now have begun to develop an idea of the skill levels of every team in the league. Without further ado, let’s get into the storylines.

STORYLINES

Each week, we’ll sort through the top storylines that emerged from the previous week of games. This can be team performances, standout players, new lineups, or anything that made a huge impact on the week.

1. Best teams begin to separate themselves.

With four weeks down, we have a pretty good idea of who the early season contenders are and who is going to have a mountain to climb to stay in it. There is obviously a lot of time left in the season for teams to recover from their early-season struggles, but like in most sports, we know who is at the top of the tier rankings right now. With remote gameplay, it was paramount to figure out your team quickly and adjust to the new play style and we’ve certainly had some highlights.

T-Wolves Gaming lost their first game of the season, but have quickly reminded the league why they are the defending champions. Five straight wins and the 4th best point differential in the league has made it very clear that last season wasn’t just a flash in the pan for this group. Alongside them are the two undefeated squads in Warriors Gaming Squad and Raptors Uprising GC, who have both been fantastic to start the season, ranking #1 and #2 in both PPG and Offensive Rating.

There are obviously other good teams, but one that needs to be talked about is Wizards District Gaming. Everyone figured that getting the No. 1 overall pick would improve this team, but JBM’s improvements game-by-game have turned them into a clear title contender and a team with a ton of upside to grow in to. We have a lot of fun teams this season and plenty of time for the rest to catch up.

2. Nets Gaming Crew joins the fray.

After multiple weeks of waiting, we finally got to see the new-look NetsGC in action! Verdict? Pretty good. Choc looked excellent, scoring at will and shooting the ball at a very good rate — 75% True Shooting to be specific. He managed his turnovers and kept the Nets in both games vs. the Mavs. The rest of the team looked like a group the just hasn’t played together very much. Their defense was hurt the most by this as they just couldn’t keep their rotations up to speed with the fast-paced Mavs Gaming offense. The talent is certainly there and they had a really tough match-up against one of the league’s best in Dallas to start the season, but they fought to the end and kept things interesting. Chess also made his 2KL debut, however it was surprising to see it come at the 3 as a 3-level scorer instead of the 2-guard spot as a secondary ball-handler. This whole team needs time to gel, but lucky for them, a 4-game week should do the trick. Magic Gaming, Heat Check Gaming, CLTX Gaming, and Raptors Uprising GC are on tap for Nets GC in Week 5, so we’ll have a better season outlook idea on this team following next week.

3. Kings Guard Gaming has arrived.

Holding a team to 30 points for an entire game is really impressive. Holding a team to seven points in an entire half is nearly impossible. Kings Guard Gaming did both. Led by defensive ace and No. 3 overall pick, Crush, this Kings Guard Gaming team has again cemented themselves as one of the best defensive teams in the league. Their frontcourt pairing of Dat Boy Shotz and Yusuf Scarbz have been excellent this year as well, holding PFs and Centers to the third and fourth lowest PPG and RPG respectively in the league. They are still coming along offensively, mostly around the continued growth of rookie PG Bash, but for a team that traded BP, they have been excellent to start Season 3.

4. West Coast, best coast?

So far, so good for most of the West Coast teams in the NBA 2K League. Lakers Gaming is the outlier so far this season with their 0-7 record, but take them away and West Coast teams are 18-7 so far this season. Warriors Gaming Squad, Blazer5 Gaming, Kings Guard Gaming, Jazz Gaming, and Gen.G have all been very good this season. They all feature very talented Point Guards and defensive systems that have overwhelmed opponents this season. The championship trophy has already moved West from New York to Minnesota, so perhaps we see it make a full manifest destiny over to the Pacific side of the USA.

5. Mama Im Dat Man is ridiculous.

If you didn’t know already, Mama Im Dat Man is making it very clear that he’s still the MVP of this league. We have a bunch of great MVP candidates this season, Kenny Got Work especially, but time and time again Mama shows that he is the reigning MVP for a reason. Dropping 77 points in a game in regulation is one of the most impressive feats in league history, especially when you consider he shot 30-for-35 from the field and 7-for-8 from 3. Just an unreal performance from an even better player. He said that he doesn’t want personal accolades this season, but if he keeps this up, it’s going to be tough for anyone to usurp him without a legendary season.

Highlight(s) of the Week

Shoutout to @choc, who sinks his first regular season 3⃣! pic.twitter.com/dtFQZSRCeW

— NBA2KLeague (@NBA2KLeague) May 29, 2020

Welcome to the league, Choc!

WOW! 😱

@DatBoyShotz comes through with a BIG-TIME jam to ice this series! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/EkqvOCWZ8f

— NBA 2K League (@NBA2KLeague) May 29, 2020

Just something about Kings Guard and late finishes!

What's better than pulling off one epic late-game comeback? How about pulling off ✌️ late-game comebacks… in the SAME series!

Watch @PistonsGT get it done vs Lakers Gaming on Wednesday. 👀 pic.twitter.com/bscwtuvy1E

— NBA 2K League (@NBA2KLeague) May 28, 2020

Charger showing why he was drafted in the 1st round!

4 Games to Watch in Week 5

1. Blazer5 Gaming (4-1) vs. Kings Guard Gaming (4-2) (Wednesday, June 3 – 9 pm/et)
1-on-1: MamaImDatMan vs. Crush

Another week, another fantastic match-up between two contenders out west. Blazer5 Gaming lost their first game of the year last week against Jazz Gaming, but playing three games in a week can be tough and the mental fatigue may have showed. When watching B5, it appears that if you slow down Mama, they don’t have a true second perimeter option with Hood on the bench. OOC Slim has been solid in his role, but he plays better off of Mama rather than as a secondary ballhandler. In this matchup, it’ll be up to No. 3 overall pick and reigning Player of the Week candidate, Crush, to slow down the reigning MVP.

2. Warriors Gaming Squad (5-0) vs. Hawks Talon GC (3-2) (Thursday, June 4th – 9 pm/et)
1-on-1: Bsmoove vs. Kel

An under-the-radar fun match-up as the Warriors takes their league-leading defense against BP, Kel, and the rest of Hawks Talon GC. The Hawks have performed well this season, but outside of a surprising win over T-Wolves Gaming, they’ve struggled a bit against two good teams in Mavs Gaming and Raptors Uprising GC. They’ll get another crack at the top of the standings against this Warriors team coming off a bye week looking to avoid dropping back to .500 on the year.

3. Jazz Gaming (2-1) vs. Wizards District Gaming (5-1) (Friday, June 5th – 9 pm/et)
1-on-1: Ria vs. Dayfri

A good old-fashioned big man battle! Dayfri and Ria square off in the first of two fantastic 9 pm/et matchups on Friday. Jazz Gaming is coming off a huge win against Blazer5 Gaming while Wizards DG have been rolling with five straight wins since they closely fell to Raptors Uprising in Week 1. No. 1 overall pick JBM will also be clashing with No. 10 overall pick Splashy if you wanted another epic rookie PG matchup after the dozen we’ve had so far this season! This likely would’ve been the Game of the Week if not for our next game…

4. Blazer5 Gaming (4-1) vs. Warriors Gaming Squad (5-0) (Friday, June 5th – 9 pm/et)
1-on-1: OneWildWalnut vs. Slaughter

GAME OF THE WEEK. A top of the table matchup between two of the best teams in the league so far this season, B5 and WGS are no strangers to each other. These two faced off in the 1st round of the playoffs last season as WGS sent Blazer5 Gaming home for the second straight year without a playoff win. Now, these two west coast rivals get to face off in their first match-up of Season 3. We already discussed both of these teams already, but when this game starts, grab your popcorn and get ready.