Being the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA 2K League isn’t something Jack Mascone dreamed about as a kid. To be fair, the league hasn’t been around that long — 2020 will be only its third season.
But besides that, Mascone’s dreams originally lay on the tennis court. When an injury forced Mascone to put down his racquet, he picked up something entirely different: an Xbox controller.
Several months later, Mascone — gamer tag “JBM” — qualified for the NBA 2K League’s draft, and Wizards District Gaming made him the first overall pick.
“I think I’m honestly living a more complete life than I was four weeks ago,” Mascone, 19, said in an interview in March, “which is honestly pretty ironic considering I’m supposed to be playing video games for 10 hours a day.”
Certainly, he must have banked years of experience playing “NBA 2K” or other sports titles that prepared his thumbs for a professional esports debut? At least some lazy weekends playing Mario games with friends? Wrong.
“Didn’t touch a video game console,” Mascone said of his childhood, adding he first played an “NBA 2K” title when he was 17.
Hailing from Irvington, New York, Mascone’s plan was to take a gap year after high school to train in Florida before continuing his tennis career on the University of Pennsylvania’s team. But as a high school senior, he suffered stress fractures in his shin while running cross country and played through the injury through basketball season, as well. The injuries grew worse and he had to put tennis aside.
With his gap year already planned, Mascone headed not to Florida but to Atlanta to live with his friend and find a job coaching tennis. While his gap year wasn’t the first time he ever tried out an “NBA 2K” game, he soon found himself playing it constantly.
The unique thing about esports is that a newcomer like Mascone can find out rather easily how he or she stacks up against professional players. Mascone started playing the Pro-Am mode in “NBA 2K20,” where two teams of five play a game online only controlling their own avatars, known as their MyPlayers. Mascone’s teams started beating pro gamers regularly; in turn, Mascone grew more interested in watching the league.
“It’s not like a ’Call of Duty’ where the skill gap is in the controls,” Mascone said. “Regarding me not playing for so long, I think ’2K’ is the one game you can get away with that, because I think a lot of the skill gap comes with intangibles off the game. Kind of just decision-making and just situational stuff that’s not necessarily so controller-related.”
Those intangibles, in Mascone’s case, come from his real-life athletic career. He played point guard in high school and runs the point in “2K” as well. Wizards DG team manager Patrick Crossan said it isn’t unusual for a 2K League athlete to have an athletic background. Another team member, Ryan “dayfri” Conger, played college baseball.
Crossan knew Wizards DG needed to draft a point guard, and he received some help during the scouting phase.
Wizards DG is under the same new “Monumental Basketball” umbrella as the Wizards, Mystics and Capital City Go-Go; some fans chuckled upon learning that Wizards general manager Tommy Sheppard would be appointed general manager of Wizards DG as well. But Crossan said the revamped organizational structure led to resource-sharing — some of the Wizards’ mental evaluators interviewed the four players Wizards DG was considering for the first overall pick.
After Mascone was selected, he flew to the District for media engagements and met Sheppard as they were heading to a Capital One Arena box at a Wizards-Bucks game. He didn’t know it was Sheppard at first, but soon they hit it off.
It was “super eye-opening” for Mascone to learn about Monumental, which arranged for the MedStar Wizards District Gaming Studio to be set up in an office space near Capital One Arena.
“I never envisioned something like this,” he said. “They’re just so on top of everything.”
As a first-round pick, Mascone signed a six-month, $35,000 contract, and veterans returning from last year will make a $37,500 base salary. But additional money is up for grabs in tournament prize pools. The 2K League playoffs, for example, have a total prize pool of $900,000, with the winning team earning $420,000 to divide amongst its players.
Of course, that’s all on hold during the coronavirus pandemic. The season didn’t begin on schedule — even though video games can be played remotely, the league was about to move its players into a new studio in Manhattan. For now, Mascone and Wizards DG are taking part in a 16-team preseason tournament being streamed on Twitch.
Could esports be on the verge of a boom if “real” sports leagues are perhaps months away from returning? As leagues like NASCAR air video game versions of their sports, the theory is starting to gain traction. But according to Crossan in an interview before the pandemic took hold in the U.S., local fans already were starting to recognize Wizards DG players.
“Just walking around town, some of these guys just get noticed,” Crossan said. “We’re playing video games and kids are now noticing these guys. It’s a cool feeling. It’s obviously not like if Bradley Beal walked down the street. Everyone would flock to him. Some people are getting to know us and we’re getting our names out there, but it’s only our third season and we’re still growing.”
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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