But for companies there is an inherent risk when jumping into an emerging industry such as esports as 2K22 MT a former Golden State Warrior and well-known tech entrepreneurs Andre Iguodala once called "the Wild Wild West". For the NBA it was a risk that was worth taking. "It's built into the NBA's name and 2K's brand to be innovative" Donohue explains, adding that the NBA owners "realise the future and this is going to continue to grow. Thus, I believe there's more risk to not doing it than actually doing it.

The fears that esports could been a fringe idea that would attract hardcore gamers but with limited commercial appeal beyond the realm of gaming, have proved to be unfounded. Forbes reported last year, that esports revenues worldwide were expected to surpass $1.1 billion in 2019.

"Even over the last three years, and our three seasons, my conversations now are far different than what they were before the league started because it's an increase in regular, and it's not something that's atypical;" Donohue emphasizes. Kirk Lacob, Warriors Assistant Manager, recently told me that esports was "absolutely getting more mature".

Donohue talks about the benefits that a league can have operated out of the NBA office, in terms of bringing partners in. "The benefit of being the NBA 2K brand is that we have amazing relationships with a lot of these partners and so we can kind of aid them in their efforts to Buy NBA 2K22 MT guide them through eSports and assist them with understanding how to leverage eSports as a means to increase the visibility of their brands."