Chiquita Evans just made history by becoming the first woman drafted into the NBA 2K League:
Chiquita Evans, first woman drafted into the NBA 2K League. Fourth round pick by @WarriorsGaming. Biggest applause of the night at Barclays Center. pic.twitter.com/BkeIbTaeJw— Jake Seiner (@Jake_Seiner) March 6, 2019
Evans, 30, is a professional NBA 2K player who is obsessed with basketball.
She is just one of two female players who entered the 198-player pool for Tuesday's draft in Brooklyn -- and now she's a member of the Warriors' family.
The NBA 2K League is a part of the eSports movement that takes place on either Xbox One or PlayStation 4 -- and it's quite the process. It includes a combine that players have to qualify for, an evaluation process that includes basketball/2K IQ tests from the application players completed during the qualifier and audio submissions to select players as well.
That's then followed by a 30-minute video interview with a league representative and a selection committee that will evaluate each individual who makes it to the interview stage.
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It's pretty much the real deal. And Evans dominated it.
But it wasn't an easy task ...
"A few things got me discouraged," she told Kotaku's Gita Jackson in an interview. "You're going through the Combine and people don't want to pass the ball, and my gender became an issue."
"I'd get on the mic and say, ‘I'm open, I'm open,' and they'd be like, ‘That's a girl?'" she said. "I'd get iced out the whole game."
But she didn't let that stop her -- she didn't let that change what she wanted to accomplish.
So while Evans is shattering glass ceilings, she wants to make it known that while she may be the first, she doesn't want to be the last.
"I do feel like if I get drafted a lot more women will be interested and they will feel more comfortable with being themselves and going out here and competing," Evans said. "I can only imagine, you know, four or five years down the line, how many women would feel comfortable enough to go out here and compete."
