Tucked into Deep Ellum somewhere between the restaurants and the bars, the Mavs gaming facility stands big and blue under the Dallas Skyline. With a mural of the 2011 Larry O’Brien trophy and Dirk, the facility reminds you that it’s very much a part of the Dallas Mavericks but stepping inside shows so much more. Stepping inside shows the future of sports.
eSports has been around for years starting with Atari’s Space Invaders Championship way back in 1980. After that eSports plugged along at a steady rate until Halo, League of Legends, and Call of Duty tournaments really exploded. Back around 2010, 2K started with unofficial leagues and the Pro-Am tournament circuit where great 2K players could begin competing against the best in the world in online tournaments. This grew the community, but it also caught the attention of the NBA itself. Upon the release of 2K17, the 250K tournament was announced bringing the players from the Pro-Am circuit together to find out who was the best 2K player in the world. Sure, there had been major tournaments before and many of these players were already making a living as professional gamers but this time was different. This time the NBA was watching. Arturo Boyd, better known as Artreyo, brought home that first championship and set the stage for what would become the NBA 2K league. In its inaugural season, the 2K league consisted of 17 franchises but that number has grown to 21 for the upcoming season.
Despite being lucrative and extremely successful, eSports to this point were still in their very unofficial infancy. Ultimately, the NBA decided to introduce their own league associated with NBA franchises. To get into this league, 2K opened an application to assess the players’ basketball IQ, 2K IQ, and there was an audio submission where the players had to answer why they wanted to be drafted into the 2K league. After this, 2K organized a league qualifier where players were required to win 100 games in 2K’s Pro-Am mode or at the Jordan Rec Center at a win rate of at least 50%. For the players who made it through the qualifier, there was still a combine that required players to complete a minimum of 25 games at one position with random teams. Players who had already made the league in its inaugural season did not have to participate in the tryout process again, but they still had to compete in the combine. After the tryouts, players also had to endure a series of interviews testing maturity and their ability to function in a professional sports league much like the pre-draft interviews in every other professional sport. Those who were skilled enough to make it through the grueling tryout process became eligible for the draft.
Much like the regular NBA draft, the 2K league draft encompassed a lottery system to determine which team received the first pick. Unfortunately, not every player who qualified for the draft was selected. The NBA 2K league was meant to be the best of the best, and this intense selection process only solidified this fact. Of the thousands that applied and participated in the combine, only 126 made it to the league. Only 6 have the privilege of calling themselves a member of Mavs Gaming.
From the moment I stepped into the royal blue warehouse in Deep Ellum, I could see that this team and this sport was different. Mavs Gaming logos covered the walls and gaming consoles proved to be the most common thing in the room. A table with banks of Playstation 4’s and Xbox One’s was the first thing when you walked in and set the tone for the entire facility. One the front wall in the exact center of the room was the stage. Two huge projector screens hung from the wall behind a pair of 5 man stations facing seats for a crowd. This is perhaps one of the biggest differences in the 2K league as opposed to the Pro-Am tournaments that have gone on for years. In Pro-Am, and many other tournaments, your only contact with your team is through a headset and your only audience is watching you on a livestream. Here, there is a crowd and you’re sitting right next to your teammates. I would like to say there’s no difference and the players would like to say there’s no difference, but that simply isn’t true. It adds another dynamic to the game. The rest of the main room was filled with tables, a sound booth, various offices, and a wall sized Mavs gaming mural right next to an NBA 2K league mural to remind everyone who and what they were there for.
After seeing the main stage, I got a tour of the rest of the facility where I came across the lockers of the inaugural team. Apparently they pulled some lockers that were exactly like the ones in the Mavericks locker room for that first team, but they were never used. However, Mavs Gaming elected to keep them there. They were the beginning. They were a symbol of the professionalism around the building. They were a reminder of that first season and this team’s genesis.
After the locker room, I was lead through a narrow hallway into a back room where another row of game consoles and monitors stretched through most of the room. As we followed this long table, it lead us to the team sitting in leather chairs arranged in a semicircle around a big screen TV watching film of yesterday’s matches. Everything in the room had a singular function. It was built to help this team be great.
I had the privilege of talking to almost everyone involved in Mavs Gaming, and there were a few common threads throughout the interviews but the biggest was the desire to bring home a championship. There’s a determination, a will to bring the 2K league championship to Dallas and establish themselves as a standard of eSports.
With every successful organization, the goals start at the top before trickling down to every aspect of the business and Mavs gaming is no different. Both on the business side and the team side with a pair of strong leaders in Trey Christensen and L.T. Fairly. Trey Christensen stands on the business side as the Director of Esports for Mavs Gaming, but he started as just another kid who loved video games. Growing up on the classics like Doom and Halo, he became interested in tournaments for bragging rights but was soon able to parlay that love into the business side where he could make a living managing esports teams and players. On the coaching side is L.T. Fairley who’s the head coach of Mavs Gaming and a bit of a legend in the 2K community. He’s been running tournaments and dominating online since before many of his players even graduated high school (and a few before they even started it). They both have their own side of the franchise, but they fulfill the same purpose. Christensen was the businessman in the room. Someone who’s been around the block a few times and can visualize the next move that can grow the brand of whomever he’s working with. Fairley was soft spoken, but his softness delivered purpose. He chose his words so he could convey what he wanted to say exactly the way he wanted to say it. Despite these differences in persona, their goal was exactly the same. They want Mavs Gaming to be great, they want to grow the sport, and they want to maintain that love of gaming that got them here in the first place.
These principles echoed through all of their players with the poetry of a shared goal. I was sitting at one of the little tables drinking out of a free water bottle when Moustapha Saab, better known as Mo, came up to me and introduced himself. He was the first player I got to interview and he really set the tone for what my day would be like. We talked about his history playing 2K and all the accolades he’s received over his 3 years playing competitively, but nothing matched how he talked about his team. Even as he said it with different words, he spoke about his desire to win and make Mavs Gaming great. Every subsequent player relayed this message to me one by one in their own words. This idea is ingrained in everything they do.
Even the seasoned players, Rux and Artreyo, shared this team oriented goal and mentality. Matthew Rux, better known as Rux, has been a professional gamer for years and in more than one game. He started out with being the premiere NHL player and has even competed for the US in the FIFA World Cup before turning pro at 2K. Yes, you read that correctly. He’s a pro at 3 different games. Artreyo, the elder statesmen of the team at only 24, is already one of the most well-known 2K players in the world. He was the first #1 pick in NBA 2K league. He might even be the first giant of the sport. Those team principles shined through in everything they said. They shined through with every player even with their diverse backgrounds, ages, and previous experiences. Justin Sherman (Sherm), Peter Malin (PeteBeBallin), Grant Barker (GrantMoster), and assistant coach Lance Sessions all echoed this principle in their own way. This collection of talented players, coaches, and business professionals have come together to form a team in the truest sense of the term.
By the end of my interviews, it was really hard to leave that royal blue warehouse in Deep Ellum. I really didn’t have a lot of prior knowledge about the league or the franchise, but I found it pretty difficult to leave after talking to everyone in the Mavs Gaming organization. From the top to the bottom, Mavs Gaming is here to show the world that eSports has arrived. What was once just a group of friends playing 2K evolved into Pro-Am tournaments, but now has become a league all its own. Despite only being in its second season, the stage is set for the 2K league to grow. By all measures, the world of eSports carries a lot of potential despite being in its infancy but I can’t think of a better franchise to bring it to the rest of the world.
Related: MAVS GAMING Announces 2019 NBA 2K LEAGUE Roster
My first console was the original Playstation and I would play Twisted Metal every now and then but games didn't hook me until I played the original Halo at my friend's house. As soon as I picked up that controller, I knew I needed an Xbox and I had to have that game. Since those early Halo days, I've branched out and played any game I could find with a great story and memorable characters but Master Chief is still my favorite. @thenotoriousTGT on Twitter
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