NBA 2K League: Season 5 Rewards and new tournament structure brings the heat

The NBA 2K League might not be getting a lot of attention over the last few years, however, players will have a hard time ignoring it now.

When Season 5 is finally released in late-February, we'll see a new version of the NBA 2K22 League that will undergo some massive changes.

So, what can we expect in Season 5 of the NBA 2K League? Let's take a look at the latest news.

NBA 2K League Season 5 changes

Season 5 of NBA 2K22 isn't far away, in fact, it's currently just 17 days away. As we near it, we learn even more about the details for the next season.

It seems as if our first reveal surrounding Season 5 is about the new changes coming to NBA 2K League, one of which is a tournament-centric structure. The question is, what does this mean for amateur players?

Here are the main changes coming to the NBA 2K League in Season 5.

• A tournament-centric season structure;
• New 3v3 tournaments entitled by Coinbase
• A significantly higher total prize pool; and
• Amateur teams vs. NBA 2K League teams (in the Coinbase 3v3 tournaments).

Let's first go over the new NBA 2K22 tournament-centric season structure.

2K League Tournament-centric structure

The standard format of the NBA 2K League is getting a massive overhaul. The most notable change was revealed by the official 2K League website.

"The NBA 2K League will pivot from featuring a traditional “regular season” and now primarily be focused on tournament play (including qualifying events for tournaments), with the season-spanning April through August."

Here are the rest of the notes for the upcoming changes to the NBA 2K League:

• The League’s existing marquee 5v5 tournaments—THE BANNER CHAIN Powered by AT&T (THE TIPOFF, THE TURN, AND THE TICKET) and the NBA 2K League Playoffs and Finals—will continue as the key components of the League’s standard 5v5 competition.
• THE BANNER CHAIN Powered by AT&T and the NBA 2K League Playoffs and Finals will continue to be comprised of only NBA 2K League teams.
• Teams will qualify for the NBA 2K League Playoffs based on their performance in the prior competitions throughout the season.

New 3v3 Tournaments

Perhaps the most notable addition to the NBA 2K League format is the 3v3 tournaments that are making a splash. This tournament will also have a separate prize pool.

The 2K League teams are normally represented by five players, but they'll choose their three best to participate in these tournaments.

This new format will also allow amateur players to face off against 2K League teams in 3V3 action. Here's how those tournaments will work in Season 5 of NBA 2K League:

• Amateur teams from around the world will have the opportunity to participate alongside NBA 2K League teams for a share of the 3v3 tournament prize pool.
  • The first two of these 3v3 tournaments will include the 24 NBA 2K League teams and North American amateur teams.
  • North American amateur teams will be able to enter into qualifying events to earn spots in the group play stages of these first two 3v3 tournaments.
  • The third and final of these 3v3 tournaments will include NBA 2K League teams and one amateur international team from each of the European and Asia-Pacific regions.
• International amateur teams will be able to enter region-specific qualifying events to earn spots in this third tournament.

Once we get into Season 5 of NBA 2K22 we'll keep you updated on all of the news surrounding the NBA 2K League tournaments.