Well, that was fun. 3v3 in-person play lived up to the hype, delivering a week of chaos and intense competition, ultimately culminating in the least surprising outcome, Wizards District Gaming winning more money. In all seriousness, it was a great week and sets us up for an incredible return to 5v5 gameplay following the bye this week. Let’s keep the 3v3 theme going for now. I’m going to give 3 teams that have impressed and 3 teams that…well haven’t. Still a lot of season to get through, but with us being about ¼ through the season, it feels right.

3 Teams That Have Impressed

1. Dux Infinitos

The first year for expansion teams is usually a complete crap shoot. Some have gone on to win the title, while others have gone on to put up some of the worst seasons in 2K League history. Most just end up middling around until they finish the season looking towards next year and not competing. I’m not sure the mentality of this Dux Infinitos team will allow them to do that. Now, they got SPANKED by Wizards District Gaming in the Slam Open Finals, a 4-0 sweep is never pretty. So, we might want to temper our upside expectations on them a little bit. However, they are actually the first expansion team to make a tournament finals in their debut season, so let’s all give credit where credit is due. The expectation for this team coming in was about as low as I can remember for an expansion team. People had them pinned as one of the worst teams in the league coming off the draft (except me, humble brag), so in terms of overcoming expectations, Dux has done the job so far. But, with Mario rejoining the team to start at center and rookie standout ForeverPolo heading back to the draft pool, their team is going to change quite a bit. Can they find more success in THE TURN or will they finally succumb to their preseason expectations? Only time will tell.

2. Wizards District Gaming

I’m going to keep this one short since saying the team that has won back-to-back titles has impressed is a bit too obvious. However, they make this list since they finally won something! For the first time in franchise history the Wizards have finally won…a banner! There is a certain irony that only 2K League fans will understand having Wizards DG be our first 3v3 banner champions while they still have yet to win a 5v5 tournament. If one thing was clear before the tournament that is even more obvious now, Awkward-Newdini-Dayfri is the best trio in the history of 2K. Period. It’s over. No more arguments, no more debates, it’s over. Case closed. Everything else from here is just chalk. It’s like if Joe DiMaggio continued his hitting streak after 56 games or if Tom Brady continued winning Super Bowls after winning 6 with the Patriots…wait…anyway, you get the point. Shout out to Wizards District Gaming for consistently being the team that sets the bar. They remain the team to beat, as if that is a surprise to anyone.

3. Lakers Gaming

Damn this team is good! Do you know how refreshing it is to see this team play well? I’m just going to lay out the Lakers Gaming records for you since they entered the league: 3-13, 3-13, 3-25. Truly horrendous stuff. Do you know how hard it is to be that bad in this league for that long? And yet, here they are. The only team to make the final four in both 3v3 and 5v5 is a pretty sick accomplishment. Them losing in both series is a tougher pill to swallow, but just leaves room for improvement right? I love what I see from this team already. There are definitely some gameplay issues to sort out. Regg can revert back to Season 4 Regg at times, as can the rest of Lakers Gaming, but all things considered, the best month in the history of Lakers Gaming.

3 Teams That Have Disappointed

1. Kings Guard Gaming

Uuuhhhh well that went about as poorly as possible. Many picked this Kings Guard Gaming team to dominate this season and they had great reason to. Mama, Crush, Walnut all on the same team, add in two good players in the draft in Ant SZN and Myles and wham, title contender right? Wrong. 1-4 record in THE TIPOFF, 1-5 record during the SLAM OPEN, Ant SZN already traded to Knicks Gaming. YIKES. Talk about crashing down to Earth or heck, maybe failure to launch is a better metaphor. I’m not really sure what the answer is besides the team just playing better. Mama has been shaky to start the season and I don’t think Crush has had a great start either on both ends of the floor. Walnut is doing the simple Walnut things of rebounding and efficient scoring, but he doesn’t seem as imposing as season’s prior. The Ant SZN trade continues to be a head-scratcher, I still have no clue why they would deal him this early in the season for Ty and a very late 1st round pick. It’s not pretty right now. Maybe they figure it out during THE TURN, but if not, we may see some more trades coming.

2. Jazz Gaming

This is a bit of a loaded one. They dominated during TIPOFF group stage games, looking like the best team in the league. I still truly think they are one of the best teams in the league, but…I still expected more. Them losing to Mavs Gaming in R1 of THE TIPOFF bracket play is still tough to reconcile with and while this may be me imposing my own expectations on them, I really wanted to see them respond and make a run during 3v3. I get it, it’s not 5v5. But they couldn’t even make it out of group stage? With Splashy, Compete, and Ria? I was hoping they’d use their frustration from the loss and say “F it, we’re the most talented team in the league, let’s dominate this.” Instead, we got a lot of tweets and not a lot of wins. Maybe my expectations were incorrect or maybe they are just saving up their vengeance for 5v5, but regardless, I’m ready for a big Jazz Gaming run…if they have it in them.

3. Magic Gaming

I have spent a lot of time talking about Magic Gaming this year. Whether it be articles or on the NBA 2K League broadcast, I have said much about them and not much of it has been good. So I’m going to lay off this time around except for one stat: Through one 5v5 and 3v3 tournament, 22 of 24 teams have made it through the group stage. The two who haven’t? Kings Guard Gaming…and Magic Gaming. Let’s see if they fare better now that the Duck era has officially begun.

We’ll have full Power Rankings coming on Friday! I’m going to combine my 5v5 and 3v3 into one big rankings as we head into the next stage of the season.