The draft is imminent. Imminent too is a life change for the 102 NBA 2K players who were selected for the inaugural NBA 2K League season. New York beckons, bringing with it a stage bigger than most players have ever experienced before. Some, however, have been in the spotlight before. DetoxysGT, who won the $250,000 RTTASG tournament with Still Trill, is one of those. He was kind enough to take a little time to sit down with us here at OS.
OS: Tell us a little about your 2K and basketball history. What’s been your favorite moment?
Detoxys: At the beginning, I had aspirations to make the NBA. My sophomore year in high school I was starting to really progress and improve as a player. Unfortunately, I sustained a serious injury resulting in me being unable to play basketball for a year and a half. It was after this injury, that I started playing NBA 2K. I began playing quick matches and really started to gain an understanding of how to play NBA 2K. I progressed to Gamebattles matches to see where I stacked up against competitive players. This is where I started playing competitive 2K. Game battles matches consisted of using real NBA rosters against other players whether it be 1v1, 2v2, and all the way up to 5v5. I played these matches up until NBA 2K15 when the rec center was introduced. This was the first 5v5 MyPlayer action the 2K community had seen since Crew mode. Then in NBA 2K16 the Pro-Am was introduced. I ended up making the console finals on Xbox of the RTTF 250,000 dollar tournament and ended up losing in a heartbreaking overtime loss. In NBA 2K17 I redeemed myself and won the RTTASG 250,000 tournament with my team, Still Trill. Playing at the biggest stage of competitive 2K and winning 50K a piece would have to be my favorite 2K moment.
OS: You won a RTTASG tournament with Still Trill. How did that affect your mindset, and how did that manifest itself throughout the qualification process?
Detoxys: Winning the RTTASG tournament with Still Trill gave my teammates and myself all the confidence in the world. We got to say we were the best team of the year. We played on the biggest stage possible of competitive 2K at the time in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers and didn’t fold. I believe this moment in history gave my teammates and me all the confidence in the world moving forward. Winning that tournament gave me the confidence I needed to believe in myself, that I could make the top 102 players in the world to compete in the NBA 2K League. It gave me the confidence to take my last semester off of school because I believed I could make it and didn’t want to pass up this life-changing opportunity. Throughout qualifications, through the good and bad games, I believed I could achieve my goal of making it to the NBA 2K League. Even if a game wasn’t going my way or I got frustrated, I would just think back to myself and believe in the goal at hand. Confidence is key in life, and winning the RTTASG tournament gave me the necessary amount of belief that I could achieve my dream of making it to the NBA 2K League.
OS: Being part of the 102 is nothing to scoff at. How do you make sure you stand out from the other elite players?
Detoxys: You’re right, being in the top 102 isn’t anything to scoff at, but it is imperative to find a way to continuously separate yourself from the rest of the competition. Over the years I have separated myself from the rest of the 2K community through my knowledge of the game. I am talking about strategy, execution and being one step ahead of my matchup every possession. 2K is a game of adaptation. The best players over the years have found a way to adapt from game to game. These necessary adaptations can consist of physical gameplay, changes to MyPlayer creation, and changes of the opposition’s game plan. The best players will keep adapting to the forever changing environment of the game we play, and I will make sure to adapt with the changes.
OS: What are some of your short- and long-term goals in the NBA 2K League?
Detoxys: Some short-term goals for the the inaugural season of the NBA 2K League consist of meeting and building chemistry with my future teammates/staff, find out the necessary information relating to gameplay of the league — as I hear it’s a lot different than NBA 2K18 — and winning the beginning tournaments of the NBA 2K League. Relating to long-term goals, I want to win the championship of the inaugural season of the NBA 2K League. I want to win a championship every year I compete as winning is all that matters to me. I want to use the facilities and resources the league provides us with to get in the best physical shape of my life. I want to also use the knowledge we are given regarding nutrition and start to eat healthy everyday for the rest of my life. I want to give back to the community. I want to become a legend of this league. Maybe not be the Michael Jordan of the league, but I want to be the Bill Russell of the league when everything is said and done.
OS: What are you most looking forward to in terms of being in the inaugural draft class?
Detoxys: I am most looking forward to discovering what five other qualifying players of the top 102 player pool that will become my teammates. I’ll be living with these guys for six straight months and basically doing everything with them. I want to build chemistry with my team that transcends the relationship of every other team’s players. I want to make five new best friends. I want to build a dynasty. I am also looking forward to competing at the highest level once again. The emotions playing at the highest level of competitive 2K is something I want to experience again.
