The following article reflects only the views of the author and is not representative of the views of Warriors Gaming Squad.
I’ve wanted to rank the top NBA 2K League 5v5 playoff series of all-time forever. I wasn’t waiting for WGS to win the championship to do it, but it worked out nicely, and this past season’s playoffs put the league at a solid 56 series all-time, which is enough to rank concisely before the number swells and only “top 10” lists are feasible. Best-of-one series from 2018 count—and as you’ll see, they count in a big way.
Here’s how I did it. I considered and rated each series across three categories: the quality of gameplay (this includes how close games were, and overall proficiency of players—sorry, 2018), its long-term relevance to the league (was this the breakout of a dynasty? Or did neither incarnation of both teams go on to do much), and its sheer memorability (remote playoff series suffer, as do double-blowout sweeps).
These are all subjective categories and ratings, of course, and to individual teams and players even the least interesting playoff series has real meaning, and I’m not looking to demean that. Every win in this league is hard to come by. So I will inevitably be a little biased, because while I’ve seen basically every NBA 2K League playoff game, the two-stage format and the early seasons when I merely covered the league mean that I can’t say I’ve given equal attention to all 56 series.
But neither have you, dear reader, so let’s just get to it.
56. Cavs Legion GC def. Raptors Uprising GC 1-0 (2018)
55. Lakers Gaming def. Jazz Gaming 2-0 (2022)
54. 76ers GC def. Pacers Gaming 2-0 (2019)
We start with three snoozers on the scale. The 2018 Cavs proceeded to lose to Knicks Gaming in the next round and haven’t been back to the 5v5 playoffs since. The Lakers’ series win was the first in franchise history, over a Jazz team that had made the Finals the year before, but who had lost Splash to suspension and were starting Youngstar, who shot 3-17 in a six-point game one loss before pouring in 16… in a 32-point game two loss. Everyone knew the 2019 Sixers were better than the 2019 Pacers, and they proved it quickly.
53. 76ers def. Wizards District Gaming 1-0 (2018)
52. Heat Check Gaming def. Pistons GT 1-0 (2018)
51. Raptors Uprising GC def. Hornets Venom GT 2-0 (2020)
50. Blazer5 Gaming def. Mavs Gaming 2-0 (2020)
49. Pistons GT def. Blazer5 Gaming 2-0 (2023)
48. Wizards District Gaming def. Knicks Gaming 2-0 (2021)
47. T-Wolves Gaming def. Kings Guard Gaming 2-0 (2019)
46. Bucks Gaming def. DUX Infinitos 2-0 (2023)
45. T-Wolves Gaming def. Lakers Gaming 2-0 (2022)
This group is chock-full of sweeps and blowouts, especially from the first few seasons of the league, and especially in the first few rounds of the playoffs. Among the losing teams in this group, only 2021 Knicks Gaming won playoff games the next year. Two winning teams in this group, 2019 T-Wolves Gaming and 2021 Wizards District Gaming, did win the title. Shockingly, the 2022 T-Wolves Gaming win is the only 5v5 playoff series that the core of Bear, Kai, TB, and Slaughter won.
44. Knicks Gaming def. Heat Check Gaming 2-1 (2022)
43. Warriors Gaming Squad def. Pistons GT 2-1 (2021)
42. Celtics Crossover Gaming def. Mavs Gaming 2-0 (2019)
41. Warriors Gaming Squad def. Bucks Gaming 2-1 (2020)
We’re starting to get into some quality here, with three game threes in this group. The only sweep is a Fab masterclass in 2019, the deepest Celtics Crossover Gaming playoff run to date. The WGS series with Pistons GT, back in the playoffs with Radiant after a three-year drought, was tight early but spiraled into a WGS reverse sweep, while the series with Bucks Gaming came down to the final second.
40. Bucks Gaming def. Mavs Gaming 2-0 (2022)
39. Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai def. Magic Gaming 2-0 (2022)
38. Jazz Gaming def. Blazer5 Gaming 2-0 (2021)
37. Jazz Gaming def. Blazer5 Gaming 2-0 (2020)
36. Jazz Gaming def. Pacers Gaming 2-0 (2021)
35. Warriors Gaming Squad def. Pistons GT 2-0 (2023)
34. Knicks Gaming def. Grizz Gaming 2-1 (2021)
Lots of high-quality 2K being played in these series. The Bucks started their championship run by thumping the Mavs early. Gallow wrapped up the 2022 ROTY award over the Magic. The Jazz make three appearances with solid wins—the Beezus buzzer-beater to win the 2021 B5 series was memorable, the 2020 B5 win proved they were a contender for the next two years, and the 2021 Pacers win featured a crazy OT game against MVP 630. The Pistons were arguably the hottest team coming into the 2023 playoffs, but we know what happened there (I warned you there would be some bias). The Knicks, who were the sixth seed in 2021, reverse-sweeping the Grizz loses a little shine because of what happened the next round against Wizards District Gaming.
33. Wizards District Gaming def. NetsGC 2-0 (2021)
32. NBL Oz Gaming def. Hornets Venom GT 2-0 (2023)
31. Wizards District Gaming def. Gen.G Tigers of Shanghai 2-0 (2022)
30. NetsGC def. Hornets Venom GT 2-0 (2021)
29. Hornets Venom GT def. NetsGC 2-0 (2020)
The Eastern Conference sure has had its share of sweeps over the years, hasn’t it? The Wiz dominated the Nets in 2021 before holding off the Tigers in 2022. Hornets Venom GT got clobbered as the No. 2 seeds in two series two years apart, but landed the top spot in this quintet with a Type masterclass + buzzer-beater against the Nets in the first year of their existence.
28. Knicks Gaming def. Cavs Legion GC 2-1 (2018)
27. NetsGC def. 76ers GC 2-1 (2021)
26. Wizards District Gaming def. Knicks Gaming 2-1 (2022)
25. Warriors Gaming Squad def. Jazz Gaming 2-0 (2020)
24. Wizards District Gaming def. Kings Guard Gaming 2-0 (2020)
The top two series, both tight three-gamers, probably deserve more love, but then we get an even better three-gamer in 2022 between the Wiz and the Knicks, and then we get a conference finals. WGS made its first finals as an underdog against second-seeded Jazz Gaming, where they’d run into the Wizards, who really exploded onto the playoff scene in 2020 with their sweep of the excellent 2020 Kings. One game was a total blowout, and one game JBM hit a clutch three to win it all. The Wizards had arrived.
23. Heat Check Gaming def. 76ers GC 2-0 (2018)
22. 76ers GC def. Celtics Crossover Gaming 2-0 (2019)
This is the duality-of-Radiant section. Heat Check Gaming bottled him up, allowing just six (6!) total points in the two-game sweep en route to a Miami appearance in the league’s first-ever Finals. The next year, however, Radiant wasn’t letting anyone stop him from getting to the Finals, as he broke ankles and took names in likely his best career playoff series, a 2-0 work of art against Celtics Crossover Gaming.
21. NBL Oz Gaming def. NetsGC 2-0 (2023)
20. T-Wolves Gaming def. Warriors Gaming Squad 2-0 (2019)
19. Warriors Gaming Squad def. Bucks Gaming 2-0 (2023)
18. Bucks Gaming def. Warriors Gaming Squad 2-1 (2022)
17. Bucks Gaming def. T-Wolves Gaming 2-1 (2023)
16. Knicks Gaming def. 76ers GC 2-1 (2022)
15. Knicks Gaming def. 76ers GC 2-1 (2023)
The hitters are out in full force in this group. First, Jyden and NBL made a name for themselves in the playoffs, but, uh, GlennRatty might be the SG remembered most for that one. Bucks and Warriors duels are sprinkled with some highs and lows for T-Wolves Gaming, before the primetime Eastern Conference clash of Knicks Gaming and 76ers GC. I went with the 2023 series as better, because it was a Knicks Gaming reverse sweep, but the two are so identical in memory and situation that it might just be a pick-your-favorite type of situation. I doubt the 76ers want to pick.
14. Knicks Gaming def. Gen.G Tigers 2-0 (2023)
13. Warriors Gaming Squad def. Blazer5 Gaming 2-0 (2019)
12. Warriors Gaming Squad def. T-Wolves Gaming 2-1 (2021)
The Knicks-Tigers series from this past season actually has the thinnest scoring margin of any three-game series ever. This one was an absolute dogfight, culminating in—just as everyone expected—a Burch vs. Anias showdown in the deciding game on stage. The environment is what pushes the 2019 series this far up, as the Warriors blitzed a Blazers team that never really recovered (it worked out for Mama Im Dat Man in the end). Finally, the Warriors vs. T-Wolves slugest in 2021 is probably underrated here—game three, final-minute decision, top seed vs. rebuilt finalists—but only because of the series that came next.
11. T-Wolves Gaming def. 76ers GC 3-2 (2019)
10. Bucks Gaming def. Wizards District Gaming 3-1 (2022)
Why, you ask, is the only five-game series in league history, the 2019 Finals, just ranked 11th? Well, it absolutely stunk. All but one game was a complete blowout. The victorious T-Wolves still hold the record for the fewest points in a 2K League game, 23, because of serious home/away side issues, which eventually led to a three-hour delay before game three. Conversely, the Bucks-Wiz series was probably closer than people remember, but the Bucks were simply the hottest team in the league and the Wizards’ lack of offense finally caught up to them, ending an unreal three-year run.
9. Knicks Gaming def. Blazer5 Gaming 1-0 (2018)
Let’s just get it out of the way. This is the most infamous playoff “series” in 2KL history, and it’s probably the one that led the league to introduce a best-of-three format for the next year. A stacked Blazer5 team against a revived Knicks Gaming team… and one pesky backboard.
So, yeah, that happened at 73-73 in the fourth quarter, and the Knicks rolled all the way to the championship. That Blazers team lost Shotz in expansion in the offseason and were left to wonder what might have been. Blazer5 Gaming is 2-8 in the 5v5 playoffs since this game.
8. Wizards District Gaming def. Jazz Gaming 3-0 (2021)
This was a really good series. It capped a perfect playoff run for the back-to-back champs. It was, however, a sweep, and the Wiz inexorably pulled away in the fourth quarter of every game. This is one of the best tactical performances in a playoff series of all time, and makes it even unlikelier that BRICH—dominant in the best series of his career—once again made it back to the Wiz the following season.
7. Warriors Gaming Squad def. NBL Oz Gaming 3-1 (2023)
Sure, this has the largest total margin of victory of any playoff series ever, but that points more to the quality with which WGS played than any failing on underdog NBL’s part. WGS cruised in games two and four, with major blowout wins, but NBL fought in game three’s comeback win and acquitted themselves well in game one as well. This is a very memorable Finals, overall, being in the league’s new DC home, and not just because I’ve watched it back approximately 40 million times. Make it rain, Mama.
6. NBL Oz Gaming def. Knicks Gaming 2-1 (2023)
Is recency bias making me rank this as high as I did? NBL had beaten two solid teams, but the Knicks—albeit Ticket winners—were the favorites after a reverse sweep of the top-seeded Sixers. Radiant. Malik. Stick. All-time players. And then Djaytoocold went absolutely nuclear in game one, capping it off with an all-time buzzer-beater, and the Roos stomped the Knicks in the deciding third game in front of a raucous crowd. The best finish ever for an international expansion team can’t be relegated lower than this.
5. Knicks Gaming def. Heat Check Gaming 2-0 (2018)
If you want memorable and relevant, the inaugural Finals and Finals MVP Nate Kahl going on Sportscenter has to take the cake. But compared to more modern seasons, the gameplay itself wasn’t the greatest—the Heat’s “Juan Man Army” rode Juan “Hotshot” Gonzalez, on an overpowered build, to the Finals, while the Knicks swept through the Ticket on the wings of Adam “iamadamthe1st” Kudeimati to a miraculous title. Why is it fifth? On the one hand, this is one of the most electric series in esports history. On the other hand, neither team had been especially good all year, and neither came close to the playoffs the next season.
4. Wizards District Gaming def. Warriors Gaming Squad 3-1 (2020)
The Wiz back-to-back titles officially began remotely with a reverse sweep of Warriors Gaming Squad. This was a tight series that I really try not to remember, but JBM dropped a 40-burger when it mattered most and Dayfri staked his first claim to being the world’s best player. It gets dinged a little bit for being remote—each team had locked championship stuff shipped to it in advance, just in case—but in terms of long-term relevance for the league, this is number two in the clubhouse.
3. Jazz Gaming def. Warriors Gaming Squad 2-1 (2021)
If I try to forget the 2020 Finals loss, I immediately lobotomize myself thinking about this conference finals loss to the Jazz, whom WGS had beaten in the conference finals the season before. The Jazz had the exact same team; we’d rebuilt ours and were coming off a huge, emotional upset of the T-Wolves. Game one was a Jazz blowout, but game two was a tight WGS win, and game three came down to the final seconds in one of the most emotional and compelling climaxes to a series the 2K League has ever seen.
2. Bucks Gaming def. T-Wolves Gaming 2-1 (2022)
I know exactly where I was for this: a hotel in Indianapolis, which I didn’t leave for two days after these very Bucks had reverse swept us the previous night. This was such a compelling series, however, that I was glued to my screen as two juggernauts went at it. This is probably the best playoff gameplay of all time, with the Bucks’ average margin of victory for the series being just three points. Every single basket in this series felt gigantic. Both incarnations of these teams desperately needed a playoff appearance, with the Bucks—without a 1st round pick the next year and expansion looming—unable to return a clearly excellent team, and the T-Wolves looking for their first finals appearance with the Bear/Kai/TB/Slaughter core. The Bucks took it in three (and would do the same the next year in the conference semifinals, ending the best title-less run in league history).
1. Wizards District Gaming def. Raptors Uprising GC 2-0 (2020)
Quality. Relevance. Memorability. You can’t argue against any of these when it comes to this series, which is the biggest conference finals series and big enough in terms of the key factors to put it past six almost-exceptional finals. It feels weird to have a sweep at the top, but at the time it felt weird to have the undefeated, two-banner Raptors on their back foot. While the Wizards had just demolished the Kings, and the Raptors were coming off a relatively (for them) weak showing in a sweep of the Hornets, this was supposed to be another step towards the Raptors’ coronation in the best season of all time. But the Wizards, in iconic fashion, weren’t having any of that, and swept the previously 52-6 Raptors (52 and 8 in the end! Still the best win percentage of all time!) to take the crown for themselves and, in essence, create the first dynasty the league had ever seen.
In the end, I think you can make arguments for any of the top five based on the criteria I set out. No series had a perfect rating, which would only go to a heavyweight bout in a five-game Finals. It feels a little strange to have a podium full of semifinals, but we’ve never had a truly epic Finals in all facets (all the Finals have been epic in some regard, but never across the board). Similarly, it speaks to the quality of the playoffs that every series outside of the first 12 was generally interesting or competitive or memorable. But that’s maybe because I’ve watched them all, because I love the 2K League.
But then again, dear reader, if you’re still reading, so do you.
Josiah Cohen 
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