Anthony “Ant” Costanzo, part of a Piston GT team that reached the NBA 2K League’s 3v3 final and got to the 5v5 quarterfinals this year, was selected the league’s Most Valuable Player on Friday in New York.
Ant prevailed over fellow nominees Antoine “antoinelove” Times of Hornets Venom GT, Dhwan “ShiftyKaii” White of T-Wolves Gaming, Tariq “Greens” Reed of NetsGC and Enrique “630” Xavier Barraza of 76ers GC.
“It’s been a long road,” said Ant, who helped the Pistons win the inaugural 3v3 title last year.
Moving forward, Ant is eyeing a 5v5 title.
“That’s the goal coming into this next season,” he said. “We’re really looking to build a team for that 5v5 championship. That’s the goal. We’ve got that 3s ring, we’ve got that 3s banner, let’s get a 5s banner, a 5s championship. At that point, nobody can tell us anything.”
Greens was selected the Rookie of the Year.
“This is not the only thing I want to win,” he said. “I have a lot of other plans in store for this team, but this is just a start for sure and I appreciate it.”
First-year team NBL Oz Gaming, which advanced to the 5v5 final before losing to Warriors Gaming Squad, received two awards on Friday. Mitchell Franklin was honored as Coach of the Year, and Jyden “Jyden” McBath-Spencer was chosen as the Most Improved Player.
Defensive Player of the Year honors went to Jeremy “Seese” Seese, a power forward who became a two-time NBA 2K League champion this year with the Warriors.
The Amateur of the Year was Glosquitos’ LieMeTo.
The All-NBA 2K League first and second teams were announced Thursday. The first team featured Ant, ShiftyKaii, Seese and two NBL Oz Gaming players, Gerald “Sick One” Knapp and Frederick “DjayTooCold” Payton.
The second team consisted of antoinelove, Bucks Gaming’s Mason “JohhnyRed” Bracken, the Warriors’ Kenneth “Kenny Got Work” Hailey, Pistons GT’s Ja’Ron “Bagmotion” Baylor and 76ers GC’ Daniel “DT” Tlais.
The NBA 2K League also held its All-Star events on Friday. The 3v3 event winner was Team Unguardable, featuring Magic Gaming’s Joshua “unguardable” Hunter, DT and JohhnyRed. The 5v5 event was set to be held later in the evening.
–Field Level Media