Atlanta Native Drafted By Hawks Talon For 2020 2K League Season

ATLANTA, GA — Derrion “Arkele” Elmore is one of the Atlanta Hawks 2K League’s most recent draft picks. The 23-year-old Atlanta native said he’s always had love for basketball, both on the court and off. Dreams of playing on a professional team faded, however, after a knee injury right before high school started and back spasms, he said.

His goal of playing on a team was reignited when he was selected to participate in the 2020 NBA 2K League Draft in February.

Now officially a part of the Hawks Talon Gaming Club, the NBA 2K League team of the Atlanta Hawks, Arkele is calling this a second chance.

Although he’s not physically dribbling the ball and running on an actual court, Arkele said the dedication, work ethic and long hours are still put in.

“It’s definitely a great experience being here and representing Atlanta, representing Hawks Talon,” he told Patch.

“There are 138 players in a league out of 70,000 that tried out,” he said. “The fact that I got drafted, that’s an accomplishment.”

The 2020 season was set to begin March with THE TIPOFF, powered by AT&T, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was pushed to May 5 against Mavs Gaming, the official NBA 2K League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks.

Most recently, the Atlanta team played in front of an international viewing audience, beating Grizz Gaming, the official affiliate of the Memphis Grizzlies, twice in a best-of-three series. As a result, Hawks Talon earned their second victory of the 2020 NBA 2K League regular season. The outcome of each game was 74-63, 54-60 and 75-57.

Hawks Talon will continue its regular season competition as part of six weeks of remote gameplay. The club’s next match will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 15 against Pacers Gaming. These games will be livestreamed on the league’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

General Manager and Head Coach Wesley Acuff worked with Arkele before this season.

“He was one of my practice players last year so to end up on my roster, it just makes me happy to have him around,” he said. “He’s a really good kid with a lot of personality.”

The 2020 NBA 2K League Draft, delivered by Panera Bread, took place Feb. 22nd at Terminal 5 in New York City. It was live streamed on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels.

With the addition of the two expansion teams — Hornets Venom GT and Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai — 138 players will compete in the 2020 NBA 2K League season. The 228 draft-eligible player pool consisted of 147 new players who were selected by the league through the NBA 2K League Combine.

To qualify, players had to first complete an online application and win 50 games in NBA 2K20’s Pro-Am mode or at The Rec from October 22 to Nov. 10. They had to win at least 50 percent of their games.

The combine followed, which allowed those who qualified to participate in interviews with a league representative. From Nov. 18 – Dec. 9 interviews took place before conditional offers were made for the NBA 2K League Draft Pool. They were made to the top 150 players during the week of January 13.

Arkele said the combine was the most difficult part of the entire process.

“That’s the hardest part,” he said. “I would have still been proud of myself, even if I hadn’t gotten drafted.”

Now that he’s a part of the team, Arkele said he’s “locked in” and giving it his all. A common misconception is that they aren’t as serious as a regular sports team, but he says that’s not true.

“Our coach, he definitely stays on top of us to make sure we’re doing the right things,” Arkele said. “If he sees something he doesn’t like then he’s going to tell us.”

The same with their point guard.

“He’s the leader of the team,” Arkele said. “He’s running the offense more, so he is the one who sees most of the strategies. As a unit, if we don’t see what he’s saying, we’re going to talk about it.”

The hours are put in daily. At their new downtown training facility, the players meet on average from 10 a.m. to late in the evening, Arkele said. There have even been 12-hour days.

The long practices don’t intimidate him. He started getting into esports competitively with NBA 2K18, crediting a friend who now plays for a different team.

When 2K20 was released, Arkele said he began to prepare for the combine.

“I found myself playing it nonstop for hours on end. I’d be up to 4 a.m. just playing.”

Although this is the career trajectory he’s on now, he said he was pursuing an acting career before the draft. Arkele has had roles in shows like “Black Lightening,” “Good Girls,” “Murder Chose Me,” and “Fatal Attraction.”

The acting is temporarily on hold, he said, but he’ll be back.

Arkele said family and friends have been supportive and continue to motivate him to push harder.

“There were things I was going through during the combine,” Arkele said. “I didn’t think I’d get through. My friend Tone kept my head focused. He told me to just keep pushing because life is going to work itself out, which it did because I’m here. I definitely have him to thank for a lot of it.”

During the 2020 season, the NBA 2K League will award $1.4 million in prize money across THE TIPOFF and THE TURN, the six round-robin local events and the NBA 2K League Playoffs.

The 2020 season will conclude with the 2020 NBA2K League Finals. Teams compete in 5 vs. 5 gameplay using unique characters, not existing NBA players.

Learn more about the Hawks Talon online.