198 players to vie for 74 spots at 2019 NBA 2K League draft

NEW YORK- A total of 198 players, including Hu Yi from China, are eligible for the 2019 NBA 2K League Draft taking place at Barclays Center in New York on Tuesday afternoon.

Chiquita Evans, 30, made history on Tuesday by becoming the first woman selected in the NBA 2K League Draft 2019.

The NBA 2K League, a professional e-sports league co-founded by the NBA and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., launched in 2018, and each of the league's 21 teams features six players who compete as unique characters in 5-on-5 play against the other teams in a mix of regular-season games, in-season tournaments and playoffs. Knicks Gaming won the first-ever NBA 2K League Finals on Aug 25, 2018.

With gamer tag Chiquitae126, Evans, a black woman, was drafted into Warriors Gaming Squad with the second pick of the fourth round (No. 56 overall). A total of 75 players were picked from an eligible 198-gamer pool. Evans was one of the two female players who entered the pool.

Evans was so excited that she was weeping on the scene.

She told reporters, "It feels surreal. It's an amazing experience. Women actually got me through this -- a lot of my friends who play 2K with me. They've been pushing me to get through everything, especially when I found out that I made the draft pool."

This year's draft pool includes 22 international players from nine countries outside the United States.: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, New Zealand, the Philippines, Spain, and Britain. All 21 teams will complete their six-person roster at the four-round draft, which will begin at 5 pm local time.

The 198 draft-eligible players consist of 144 new players who were selected by the league following an extensive tryout process, six players including Hu Yi from the league's first-ever APAC Invitational that took place in Hong Kong in early February, and 48 unretained players from the inaugural season.

With the addition of four expansion teams, 126 players will compete in the NBA 2K League's second season. During the offseason, 52 players from the inaugural season were retained or selected in the Expansion Draft, leaving 74 roster spots available.

By winning the NBA 2K League Draft Lottery, Jazz Gaming has the first overall pick in the 2019 NBA 2K League Draft.