New gamertag, new position, same killer instinct.

He might now go by Arooks and play small forward, but if the opening two weeks of the NBA 2K League season are any indication, Aaron Rookwood is still the dangerous scorer that’s long been his calling card.

“I’ve always been known as a shooter, even before this league came to be,” said Arooks, who went by Game6Drake last year. “I definitely think I’m at the cream of the crop.”

His play heading into Bucks Gaming’s doubleheader on Wednesday against Pistons GT and Heat Check Gaming certainly backs that up.

Over a two-game stretch in Week 1, Arooks scored 73 points, broke the league record for 3-pointers in a game (8), tied that 3-point mark in the following game, then proceeded to nail the game-winning shot to seal his team’s 2-0 regular-season start.

All in a day’s work for one of the league’s leading scorers.

“It’s a crazy feeling,” said Arooks, who is averaging 25.4 PPG through five games. “You feel like you can’t be stopped no matter who is in front of you. It feels like your teammates have the most confidence in you to score the ball and just help them win. That feeling is second to none. And fortunately I was able to get the job done.”

While his in-game alias change was for personal branding purposes, his move to small forward was just as strategic after entering the league as a high-profile point guard.

Arooks was selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2018 draft as the cornerstone of Bucks Gaming for the inaugural season. Things, however, never seemed to get on track for both the player and team as they finished 6-8 in the regular season and two games out of the playoff picture.

“After the season ended, I took it hard on myself,” Arooks said. “I didn’t have a terrible year, but I didn’t have a year that I expected or Bucks Gaming expected after picking me in the first round. I took it upon myself to be more prepared mentally and keeping my stick skills sharp for this year.”

Bucks Gaming re-shaped their roster in the offseason, bringing in three rookie starters, including a pair of first-round picks in Plondo and SlayIsland. The later’s arrival in the backcourt, in particular, giving the team a flexibility they previously lacked as another trusted ball handler.

After Arooks was predominantly featured with the ball in hands last season, Bucks Gaming looked to find the best way to utilize his skill set, which is putting the ball in the basket. To best achieve that, the decision was made to shift him over to small forward.

“Scoring is my best attribute,” said Arooks, who is hitting 4.8 3-pointers per game. “So they felt that the position change would help me excel and the team excel. So far it has.”

One only needs to look at his performance last week as evidence.

In the opener of a doubleheader against T-Wolves Gaming, Bucks Gaming set the league record for made 3-pointers in a game with 17. Arooks was responsible for 8 of those makes to establish the individual 3-point record.

“That was just an all-around great team performance,” he said. “The second game, I did that by accident.”

The second game was a hotly contested affair with Blazer5 Gaming, a rematch from Bucks Gaming’s huge upset at THE TIPOFF. Arooks again put on an offensive display with 41 points while again knocking down 8 more 3-pointers. Yet, there was little separation between the teams as the game would not be decided until double overtime.

Guess who came up with the biggest shot of the game?

Trailing by one point with under five seconds remaining, Arooks gathered the ball on the right wing and went to work. He noted that the defense had been aggressively guarding the 3-point line in anticipation of another shot attempt from distance.

He had another idea.

Arooks instead drove to his left and made an abrupt stop near the free-throw line as his defender’s momentum carried him toward the basket. He flicked a quick crossover dribble and rose up for a mid-range jumper that rattled in for the game-winning bucket.

“I knew it was good because my character did the little animation when you hit a game-winner or at the buzzer,” Arooks said. “I just knew that was the best shot we could get at that time. The way the game was going, I had to take that shot not matter what type of shot it was.”

That bucket, coupled with his huge 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to force overtime, are the type of big moments Arooks’ relishes in his role as a go-to offensive threat.

“It doesn’t always have to be a made basket, it could be a steal or a pass,” he said. “Just having the ball in my hands, because I know I’ll make a great decision and I’ll live with the results. Make or miss.”

So too will Bucks Gaming, who are riding high on the young season. They are in one sense a brand new team from a season ago, but at the core remains Arooks, who describes their approach as a “no-ego mentality.”

The results to this point are hard to argue. And even if it would be nice to take a dig at the outsiders who had their doubts about his team coming into the season, Arooks doesn’t worry about bulletin-board material.

In fact, he has a refreshingly opposite outlook.

“It’s mainly we’ve just got to go prove ourselves right, that we’re good players and we’re a good team,” he said.