The Los Angeles Lakers have never fielded a team in the NBA 2K League. If you search “Lakers gaming,” the real connections are former Lakers who built esports organizations, a Kobe Bryant cover athlete, and an arena with a long history of hosting esports. This guide covers those Lakers links, then the NBA franchises that did put real teams on the sticks: GSW gaming, Gaming Blazers, Cavs gaming and others.
What “Lakers gaming” actually means
The search mixes three intents, which is why the results look so scattered.
- Esports. People want to know whether the Lakers own a team the way the Knicks or Warriors did. They don’t.
- The arena and sponsors. The Lakers play in Crypto.com Arena, and “gaming” in sports business often means betting and casino partners as much as video games.
- Game recaps. Plenty of searchers want last night’s Lakers game, so recap pages from the team’s official site and media outlets show up for the same phrase.
This page covers the first two. For scores, use the team’s official site or the NBA app. Box scores change nightly, and a guide is the wrong place for them.
Why the Lakers sat out the NBA 2K League
The NBA and Take-Two Interactive launched the NBA 2K League in 2018 as a joint venture. Seventeen NBA franchises bought in for the first season. The Lakers were not among them, and neither were the Clippers, despite Los Angeles being one of the biggest gaming markets in North America.
The franchise has never explained the decision publicly in detail. The pattern among the teams that did join is still useful. Early adopters tended to have one of two things: an ownership group already invested in esports, or a sports-and-entertainment parent company looking for year-round content. The Knicks had Madison Square Garden behind them, which bought a controlling stake in Counter Logic Gaming in 2017. The Warriors had already launched their own esports brand. The Lakers had neither of those structures in place in 2017 and 2018, when the buy-in decisions were made.
The real Lakers connections to gaming
The Lakers organization didn’t build a team, but people tied to the Lakers did a lot of building of their own.
Rick Fox and Echo Fox
Rick Fox won three championships with the Lakers. He then became one of the first former NBA players to own an esports organization. He founded Echo Fox in late 2015, and it competed in the North American League of Legends Championship Series along with other titles.
His exit was messy. In 2019, Fox publicly accused an investor in the organization of racist remarks and said he wanted out. Echo Fox then left the LCS. The episode is still cited as a warning about cap tables and governance in esports ownership. Fox is still a familiar face at Lakers games, and his courtside run-ins with current players like Luka Dončić get regular social media attention.
Shaquille O’Neal and NRG
Shaq invested in NRG Esports in 2016, in a group of athlete investors that helped make the organization one of the best-funded in North America. NRG is still a major brand, and it later took over the LCS slot Counter Logic Gaming had held.
Bronny James and FaZe Clan
Bronny James joined FaZe Clan as a content creator in 2020, years before the Lakers drafted him in 2024. It is the most direct line between the current Lakers roster and gaming culture. The appeal was the same as with any creator signing: a large young audience that already watched him play.
Kobe Bryant and NBA 2K
Kobe appeared on NBA 2K covers more than once. The best known is NBA 2K24, the Kobe Bryant Edition. That cover is the clearest overlap between the Lakers brand and the game the league actually plays.
The role of Crypto.com Arena
Before it was Crypto.com Arena, the building was Staples Center. It hosted the League of Legends World Championship final twice, in 2013 and 2016. SK Telecom T1 won both, and the 2016 final against Samsung Galaxy is still one of the most-watched series in the game’s history. If you’re new to that event, our guide to League of Legends Worlds covers the format and why those Los Angeles finals mattered.
The arena was renamed Crypto.com Arena in late 2021 after a naming-rights deal widely reported at around $700 million over 20 years. That deal is part of why “Lakers gaming” pulls up stories about crypto and betting companies sponsoring NBA teams.
The Clippers shared the building until the 2024-25 season, when they moved into Steve Ballmer’s Intuit Dome in Inglewood. The Lakers are now the arena’s only NBA tenant.
Analyst note
Two Worlds finals in one building is a rare record. That history is a stronger case for “LA esports” than any franchise-owned roster the city’s NBA teams have run.
NBA franchises that did build esports teams
The table covers the franchise teams people search for most and the facts that hold up across seasons. Rosters and active status change from year to year, and the league has contracted since its early seasons. Check the NBA 2K League’s official channels for the current calendar and team list.
| Esports team | NBA franchise | Common search | Notable fact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knicks Gaming | New York Knicks | knicks gaming | Won the first NBA 2K League title in 2018 |
| Heat Check Gaming | Miami Heat | heat gaming | Lost the 2018 Finals to Knicks Gaming |
| T-Wolves Gaming | Minnesota Timberwolves | t-wolves gaming | 2019 NBA 2K League champions |
| Warriors Gaming Squad | Golden State Warriors | gsw gaming | Sister brand to Golden Guardians |
| Blazer5 Gaming | Portland Trail Blazers | gaming blazers | Founding 2018 member |
| Cavs Legion GC | Cleveland Cavaliers | cavs gaming | Franchise also backed 100 Thieves |
| Jazz Gaming | Utah Jazz | jazz gaming | Founding 2018 member |
| Magic Gaming | Orlando Magic | magic gaming | Founding 2018 member |
| Pacers Gaming | Indiana Pacers | fever gaming (related) | Same ownership group as the Indiana Fever |
| Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai | None (Gen.G) | gen.g 2k | First non-NBA team, joined 2020 |
GSW gaming: Warriors Gaming Squad and Golden Guardians
Golden State went further than any other NBA team. In November 2017 the Warriors founded Golden Guardians, their own esports brand. Golden Guardians held a franchised League of Legends LCS slot from 2018 and later fielded rosters in other titles.
Warriors Gaming Squad was the separate NBA 2K League team. When you search “GSW gaming,” you’re usually looking for one of those two brands. Golden Guardians stepped away from the LCS after the 2023 season, part of a wider pullback as franchise fees and revenue projections in North American esports stopped adding up.
Gaming Blazers: Blazer5 Gaming
Portland’s entry, Blazer5 Gaming, was one of the original 17. The “5” referred to the five-player Pro-Am format the league launched with, where each pro controls one created player in a fixed position. Searches for “gaming blazers” sometimes return unrelated streamer groups. The Trail Blazers-affiliated team is Blazer5.
Cavs gaming: Cavs Legion GC
Cavs Legion GC represented Cleveland. The more interesting story sits one level up. The Cavaliers organization invested in 100 Thieves in 2018, in a funding round that also included Drake. That gave Cleveland’s ownership a stake in a major creator-led org as well as a franchise 2K team.
Fever gaming: what the search is actually about
The Indiana Fever play in the WNBA, and the WNBA has never had its own 2K League franchises. The Fever have no esports team. The closest match is Pacers Gaming, run under the same parent company, Pacers Sports & Entertainment. Fans searching “Fever gaming” are often looking for WNBA players and ratings inside NBA 2K, where WNBA teams have been playable for several editions.
T-Wolves Gaming and Knicks Gaming
The two early champions show what worked. Knicks Gaming won the inaugural 2018 title over Heat Check Gaming. T-Wolves Gaming won in 2019. Both had organizations that treated the 2K roster like a real team, with coaches, scouting and practice schedules. Our piece on pro sports franchises with esports teams goes deeper on the T-Wolves Gaming run and how Minnesota built it.
How the NBA 2K League works for players
If you came here because you want to play for one of these teams, here is how the pipeline has worked.
- Mode: Competitive play runs in NBA 2K’s Pro-Am mode, using created players rather than real NBA stars.
- Eligibility: Players must be adults. The league has used an 18+ age requirement since launch.
- Qualifying: Players qualify through an online combine or in-game qualifying events, then go through a draft or a signing process. The exact process has changed across seasons.
- Pay at launch: For the 2018 season, drafted players received salaries reported at $32,000 to $35,000 for the six-month season, plus housing. That figure has changed since, so treat it as historical.
- First overall pick: Artreyo “Dimez” Boyd went first to Mavs Gaming in the 2018 draft.
The format has not stayed fixed. The league has experimented beyond the original 5v5 structure, and the number of NBA-affiliated teams has dropped from the early peak. Before you put serious time into qualifying, read the current season’s official rules for format, eligibility and region.
Analyst note
Pro-Am rewards position specialists. In 2018 the draft was sorted by position, which tells you teams scout point guards and centers as separate jobs. Pick one role and get very good at it rather than spreading your hours across five builds.
Why gaming companies target the NBA
The NBA keeps attracting gaming money for structural reasons, not trend-chasing.
- The license is already there. Take-Two’s NBA 2K series has been the dominant basketball game for years. A league built on it starts with a known product and millions of existing players.
- The audience overlaps. NBA fans skew young and spend heavily online, which is the same profile esports sponsors pay to reach.
- Year-round content. An NBA season leaves a long offseason. Esports rosters, streams and creator signings fill the calendar with content teams can sell to sponsors.
- Arenas want events. A building like Crypto.com Arena earns more on nights it’s full, and esports finals have shown they can sell out the biggest rooms in the country.
The 2K League’s contraction shows the limits. Buying a slot is easy. Building an audience for created players in a video game mode, competing against free-to-watch streams of the same game, is much harder.
Sports owners in esports beyond the NBA
NBA ownership groups weren’t the only ones. Several sports owners bought into franchised esports leagues, with mixed results.
| Owner or group | Sports team | Esports holding |
|---|---|---|
| Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment | Philadelphia 76ers | Dignitas (acquired 2016) |
| Madison Square Garden | New York Knicks | Counter Logic Gaming (2017) |
| Kroenke Sports & Entertainment | Denver Nuggets, LA Rams | LA Gladiators, LA Guerrillas |
| Golden State Warriors | Golden State Warriors | Golden Guardians |
| Kraft Group | New England Patriots | Boston Uprising (Overwatch League) |
The Overwatch League shut down after 2023, and LCS franchising was restructured soon after. The model has moved toward partnership leagues with lower buy-ins, which is how Riot runs its Valorant Champions Tour today. If you follow the teams in that circuit, our explainer on how the Valorant Champions Tour works covers the partner system.
The NBA’s wider embrace of gaming and gambling
In sports business, “gaming” often means betting, and the NBA has signed many sportsbook partnerships since the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that opened legal sports betting to individual states. That growth has created integrity problems the league is still dealing with. In 2024, the NBA banned Jontay Porter for life over betting violations. In October 2025, federal prosecutors announced cases tied to illegal betting and rigged poker games that named Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups.
Toopics doesn’t list or recommend betting, “picks” or gambling servers.
Stay safe
Discord servers selling “locks” on NBA games or 2K wagers are a common scam. Many also break Discord’s rules and target underage users. Leave them and report them.
Finding official team communities on Discord
Most active esports teams and many NBA franchises run community servers or fan hubs, and scammers impersonate them. Use this process to join the real one.
Quick steps: join an official team server safely
- Find the invite on the team’s verified social account or official site.
- Check the server for official branding and staff roles.
- Lock down DMs from server members.
- Ignore any DM offering tryouts, Nitro or VC coins.
- Report impersonators to server mods and Discord.
Step 1: Get the invite from a verified source
Only use invites posted on a team’s verified X, Instagram or YouTube channel, or its official website. Search results and random “Lakers gaming Discord” listings are where fake servers live.
Step 2: Check what’s inside
A real team server usually has announcement channels that mirror the team’s public posts, staff with clear role names, and a moderation bot. If you run your own 2K squad server, the setup our guide to the best Discord bots for gaming servers walks through (verification gates, auto-mod, role menus) is the same kind of structure official hubs use.
Step 3: Turn off DMs from that server
Right-click the server icon, open Privacy Settings, and switch off Direct Messages. Most impersonation scams start in DMs, not in public channels.
Step 4: Know the common scams
- Fake tryouts. “Pro-Am team scouting you, send your login to verify.” No team needs your password.
- Fake Nitro or VC. Free Nitro links and “VC generators” for NBA 2K steal accounts.
- Fake staff. Someone copies a moderator’s name and avatar, then DMs members.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Invite says “invalid” | Expired or revoked link | Get a fresh link from the team’s verified account |
| Can’t see channels | Verification step not done | Read the rules channel and complete the role or captcha step |
| DMs from “staff” | Impersonator | Check the member list for the real role, then report |
| Server asks you to log in elsewhere | Phishing | Leave the server and change your Discord password |
FAQ
Do the Lakers have an esports team?
No. The Lakers have never owned an NBA 2K League team or a franchised esports organization. The Lakers connections to gaming come through former players like Rick Fox (Echo Fox) and Shaquille O’Neal (NRG), Bronny James’s time with FaZe Clan, and Kobe Bryant’s NBA 2K covers.
What is GSW gaming?
It usually refers to Warriors Gaming Squad, Golden State’s NBA 2K League team, or Golden Guardians, the Warriors’ wider esports brand. Golden Guardians competed in the League of Legends LCS from 2018 through 2023.
Is the NBA 2K League still running?
The league has continued with a smaller footprint than its early seasons, and both its format and team list have changed several times. Check its official channels for the current season’s calendar before you plan around it.
Is Fever gaming a real team?
The Indiana Fever don’t run an esports team. Their parent company also operates Pacers Gaming, which is the closest match for that search.
How old do you need to be to play in the NBA 2K League?
The league has required players to be at least 18. You also need to meet Discord’s age minimum, which is 13 in most countries, to join team community servers, and some servers set a higher age limit of their own.