Another year, another reason why THE TURN is the NBA 2K League’s best tournament. This year, chaos again reigned supreme as Hornets Venom GT completed their EPIC turn-around and won their second banner. Now, all that remains of the 5v5 regular season is THE TICKET, but we’ll get to that a little bit later. For now, let’s recap THE TURN, with a little 5v5 of our own. 

 

1. Hornets Venom Do It Again

In a run shockingly similar to their first TURN banner in 2021, a young 2-way guard leads a defensive minded Charlotte team to the top. antoinelove answered all of the questions and now gets to carry the coveted belt of best point guard in the conference heading into the playoffs. For him to go from undrafted to averaging 28 points and 9 assists and winning tournament MVP, is maybe one of the greatest league stories in history. If they take this to the title and win, it’s arguably one of the greatest individual seasons ever. Rookie of the Year is absolutely on the table and while MVP may not necessarily be, that shouldn’t diminish how great of an accomplishment this season is. Congrats to Hornets Venom GT, they are now the 2 seed in the East. Hopefully things go better this time than they did in 2021. 

 

2. What The Hell Happened to The West? 

Firstly, congrats to B5 on a tournament well played. Despite their infuriating amount of open misses, they grit and grinded their way to an unlikely Finals appearance. They now find themselves as the number 4 seed in the playoffs, something that nobody thought was possible when we started this year. HOWEVER, Western Conference, what the hell happened to you? Not a single team that started THE TURN in the playoffs already, made it past the second round of this tournament. In fact, the best West Conference teams in THE TURN were all bubble teams. I’m confused. I was told all year how top heavy the West was and how great all these teams were. This now brings to question, how good are any of these teams and have we finally hit a place in the league where parity finally exists? The West playoffs will obviously answer this question, but only time will tell. One thing is for sure, these top seeds better not get first rounded, or you’ll be hearing from my lawyer.

 

3. THE TURN Represents Everything Great in Esports 

It was a brutal week of news for a lot of the esports world. A lot of very talented people lost their jobs, and the future of the industry is unclear. THE TURN, thankfully, represented a ray of light throughout this difficult week. Showing that when properly executed and sponsored, an esports event can be well-viewed, highly entertaining and most of all – fun. THE TURN reminds us why we play competitive video games and why we play in leagues like this in the first place. Anyone can win on any given day and you’re gonna make sure you scream at the opponent while doing it. I know that in the past, the NBA 2K League hasn’t always been looked at as a leader in this space, but as we enter in the next era of esports, I hope other leagues are paying attention. After six years of trials and tribulations, the peak NBA 2K League product can be as good, if not better, than any other esport. So this time, take some notes from us, and let’s all move forward together. 

 

4. Who is The DPOY? 

Now that I’m done waxing poetic about the esports industry, let’s get into a topic that actually matters. Who is the DPOY of 2023? In the past, we have looked towards the statistical leaders of steals and blocks to lead our way. This year, the leader in blocks per game is Jarsity at 1.5 BPG. The leader in steals per game is Tayzo at 2.54 SPG. Both of them are quality players, but I wouldn’t say are DPOY candidates. I think this is the year we trend more towards eye-test vs. stats. Who are the guys who pop off the screen when they play defense? Who are the guys who change the very complexion of the game? For me, that’s 5 guys. My list heading into the ticket is (in no particular order) — BagMotion, JaySnags, Seese, TBshiftay, and Connor. There is a deeper list of secondary candidates, but in my opinion, those are the five best guys that I have seen this year. 

 

5. It’s Time

Every single off-season, teams draft players, make trades, and sometimes even waive players currently on their team all for one purpose — avoiding THE TICKET. Unfortunately, for all but 10 teams, destiny comes for us all. No matter how hard you struggle or how hard you try, THE TICKET comes for us all eventually. For the 15 teams who are about to experience that TICKET this week, I salute you. A single elimination tournament to decide your season is brutal, but we must have balance. Good luck.