NBA Legend Kevin Garnett Invests In Triumph Esports
Published: Aug 13, 2019 - Last Updated: Jan 21, 2023
Kevin Garnett might be known as being one of the greatest power forwards the basketball world has ever seen. Now, the 15-time NBA All-Star has turned his attention to esports. The 43-year-old has invested in the Triumph Esports brand through his production company, Big Ticket Sports.
The announcement
The announcement came on Monday and will be a significant boost to Triumph Esports. The Triumph Gaming team is already well-known for its impressive history in the Overwatch Contenders competitions. Plus, it’s branched out into other games such as Apex Legends.
Triumph Esports also owns Rivalcade. This esports tournament organizer has developed an exhaustive range of competitions that cover games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, League of Legends and Fortnite.
Although Triumph Esports has already made impressive inroads in the esports world, Garnett’s investment has the potential to take things to the next level. A press release from Garnett stated how the partnership will create unique experiences through competition, content, and live events.
More details about the partnership
In particular, the partnership will focus on working with Hoop-It-Up to bring together basketball, esports, music, and urban lifestyle trends. The Hoop-It-Up three-on-three basketball tours are successful already. Now, it’s going to be interesting to see how esports fits into the equation.
This is just the latest move from an NBA legend into esports. Previously, we have seen the likes of Shaquille O’Neal investing in the NRG Esports team. And Magic Johnson partly owns Axiomatic, who, in turn, owns the popular esports organization Team Liquid.
Quite notably, Rick Fox founded the League of Legends team Echo Fox back in 2015, and Stephen Curry raised a reported $37 million for Team SoloMid. But it’s the arrival of the hugely popular NBA2K League tournaments that have really shown the magic that can happen between esports and basketball.
The 2k potential
The NBA2K League kicked off in 2018 and contained 17 NBA teams. Such was the success of this initiative that Twitch signed a multiyear deal to showcase the matches.
With Knicks Gaming winning the inaugural competition, many more teams like Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, and Los Angeles Lakers joined the fray.
But by investing in the behind-the-scenes activities of Triumph Esports, Garnett will be carving his own path in the lucrative competitive gaming industry. The partnership is ultimately based on the selling point of merging the popularity of traditional sports like basketball and esports into one unbeatable brand.
In the end, there is little doubt Garnett’s persona is perfectly suited for this venture. For one thing, his tenacity on the court was nearly unparalleled in his generation players. Finally, don’t forget: “anything is possible.”
