Magic Gaming Looks to Round Out Roster in 2020 NBA 2K League Draft

ORLANDO — It’s impossible to judge a structure until the final bricks are laid.

And while Magic Gaming has constructed one of the most impressive foundations in the NBA 2K League, their roster building won’t be complete until they add the final two pieces to their six-man squad.

Magic Gaming looks to do just that on Saturday night during the 2020 NBA 2K League Draft, which will take place at 6 p.m. ET at Terminal 5 in New York City and be livestreamed on the league’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

After its offseason movement, Orlando is just left with selections in the second and fourth rounds of the draft.

By retaining Rookie of the Year Brendan “Reizey” Hill along with Daniel “DT” Tlais and Brandon “ToXsiK” Raudenbush earlier this offseason, Magic Gaming sacrificed its third-round pick.

“These guys bring the most value to the organization at different levels,” Magic Gaming Head Coach Jonah Edwards explained. “With that group of three we have a nice mix of the older veteran to keep (the team) in check, two young talented guys, and guys who know what to expect and already know their role and put a lot of work in this (past) year for us.”

Orlando later traded its first-round selection to Pistons GT to acquire center Robert “May” May, who averaged 11.5 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.6 blocks per game, while switching between center and power forward during his inaugural campaign.

“We made a strategic decision in bringing in May by going with more of a direction of known quantities versus the unknown of the draft,” Director of Magic Gaming Ryan DeVos explained. “We knew that we have three really great players in ToXsiK, Reizey, and DT that were cornerstone guys in various ways.”

With those four players in place, Magic Gaming will aim to put forth an explosive offense centered around the pick-and-roll along with a lockdown defense that features players who take pride in that end of the floor.

“We now have one of the best defensive trios,” Edwards explained. “We have an elite corner defender in DT, May is a great pick-and-roll defender, and ToXsiK is one of the more consistent and reliable lock-down defenders in the league.”

That leaves Magic Gaming searching to fill two slots on draft night with positions of need likely being a dynamic shooting guard and the squad’s sixth man.

“We have four of five starter roster spots already filled with shooting guard being the one exception, so I think from a draft strategy standpoint will be looking to fill that two-slot with somebody who can fill it up and play solid offensively,” DeVos explained. “With our fourth round (pick), theoretically that will be our sixth man, but I also expect our sixth man to be an extremely valuable part of our team and a really good player in the league. Somebody who can jump in and be competitive, somebody who is versatile enough and can play multiple positions at a high level, but even more so, somebody who is going to be a great teammate.”

Magic Gaming will be selecting from a draft pool of 229 players that consists of 147 new players, who were selected by the league through the NBA 2K League Combine, 22 from the 11 team-hosted Pro-Am tournaments, five from the league’s first European Invitational, five from the league’s second Asia-Pacific (APAC) Invitational, and 50 unretained players from the 2019 season.

This year’s draft pool includes 24 international players from 10 countries and territories – Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Spain and the U.K. – and three women.

With the addition of the two expansion teams, 138 players will compete in the NBA 2K League’s third season.

Magic Gaming is hoping that this draft helps make it their best one yet.