"Fourteen months ago, there was no path to becoming an esports professional for them," said the league's managing director, Brendan Donohue, at a news conference just before the draft with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the video game publisher that make the NBA 2K18 game. "They were playing and becoming the best players in the world out of the love of the game and because of their love of competition. And so today, it's exciting because we're going to reward them for that genuine passion."