COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (September 28, 2023) – USA Basketball today announced the 2023 USA Basketball E-National Team, who will compete in the second season of eFIBA, FIBA’s official NBA 2K24 tournament.
The 10-member USA Basketball E-National Team features CB13, Craft, Crush, Dawsix, Dayfri, Dimez, Johnnyred, Seese, Shiftykaii, and Unguardable. AntSzn and Dtrick will supplement the roster as practice players. The team boasts significant amateur, professional and 2K League experience.
Crush represented USA Basketball in both 2020 and 2021. All other players are making their USA Basketball debuts.
Lance Sessions will serve as the head coach and will be assisted by Mitchell Franklin and Josiah Cohen.
“Participating in FIBA's e-sport initiatives is important for USA Basketball to continue to grow the sport of basketball with new audiences,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said. “I'm excited to watch the USA Basketball E-National Team compete this fall as we continue to support our gaming program."
The team will compete in eFIBA Season 2, which consists of North America Regional Qualifiers (Oct. 5 and Oct. 19) before the North America Regional Final (Nov. 9). The top nation from each region (top two from Europe) will secure a spot in the 2023 eFIBA Season 2 World Finals, taking place in-person at DreamHack Winter, an immersive gaming lifestyle festival, from Nov. 25-26, in Jonkoping, Sweden.
USA Basketball will name a roster of five players and one reserve for each stage. Until the World Finals, games will be played remotely on NBA 2K24 using the Pro-AM mode and allowing for customization of gamer avatars and uniforms.
The team will tip off Oct. 5 with the first stage of North America competition. The Regional Qualifiers and Regional Finals of eFIBA Season 2, as well as the eFIBA World Finals, will be streamed on Tuesdays and Thursdays on eFIBA's Twitch and YouTube channels and on FIBA's Twitch and YouTube channels.
In all, 61 federations will participate, with a group of six teams representing North America, including Barbados, Cayman Island, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and USA.