Downey’s Blazer5 team were booted from the first round of the NBA 2K League Playoffs after finishing first in the regular season with only two losses.

Having made the league through a series of combines (70,000 originally tried out in the US) playing against other potential players, Downey said he’s always been a big basketball fan. The Hong Kong event this past weekend will select players for the 2019 NBA 2K League Draft.

“I started playing when it was 2K10 with the Kobe Bryant cover, so that’s my favourite player and I’m a Lakers fan,” said Downey, who was drafted sixth overall to start the league’s first season. “It wasn’t just sports games when I was younger, it was shooting games, Madden [NFL], but my best game has always been 2K.”

One of the interesting things is that Downey is also a college basketball player for the Santa Monica Corsairs during the off-season. He is a centre in NBA 2K but plays forward for the Corsairs and is listed as 1.9-metres tall and weighing 84 kilograms.

The second season starts this spring and is played out of New York, and Downey said there’s a lot that goes into being a professional e-sports player.

Right now he’s working on mastering NBA 2K19, which was released to the public in September of last year.

“During last season you’re playing five or six hours a day, with an hour of content for the team.”

Downey noted “content” involves sponsorship commitments as well as the regular bonding a sports team would do to create chemistry and gel as a five-man unit (each team features six players and a coach).

“There are so many storylines about teams with people being toxic and bad teammates, which led to a lot of bad runs … you’re with people for that many hours a day, living with them. So that’s huge, you have to be a good teammate.”

The games, which are streamed on Amazon’s Twitch (a live-streaming video platform), also features live audiences in a studio setting. With 21 teams all operated by NBA franchises, Downey said just like regular basketball, things get heated and his squad earned a reputation last season.

“Trash talking is a huge factor in the 2K League,” he said. “When teams play each other in the studio in New York they are facing each other on the stage.

“My team was one of the biggest trash talking teams and we would do our best to get in the other team’s heads during the games.

“After a big play or run we would all stand up as a team and talk trash while being hype for the stream.”

The world of e-sports has exploded over the past few years with leagues playing a variety of games including Overwatch and League of Legends. Forbes estimates Overwatch franchises can now be valued anywhere from US$60-80 million and the overall e-sports industry will be valued at US$1.65 billion by 2021.

What was once a pipe dream for young kids (playing video games professionally) has now turned into a legitimate market for fans, players and companies looking to invest in the growing trend.

Downey has become a bit of a poster boy for the league, shooting videos for social media, providing commentary and embracing off the court obligations. The Oregonian reported that Downey earned more than US$50,000 in his first year and his team split a prize money haul of US$130,600.

Downey said he’s hoping to play as long as he can, and also has a goal of potentially transferring to UCLA or another university that has a Division 1 basketball squad, but for right now, his main focus remains on the NBA 2K League. “This is my number one priority right now,” he said.

Unfortunately, he said there isn’t much of a cool backstory to his nickname “OneWildWalnut”, as players choose handles that can range from the quirky to incomprehensible.

“My gamer tag was actually created by my brother when I first started playing Xbox. He just liked how the name sounded and it fit for me. I took the name and just have went with it ever since.”