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Andre Smith, the brother of Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma, could take his talents to the league soon, albeit as a professional gamer in the NBA 2K League. The Utah product shared how he used to trick his younger brother into thinking that they were playing against each other back in their childhood days.
Via Dan Woike of Los Angeles Times:
“A lot of times when he was very young, he didn’t know how to play the game. And I obviously didn’t want to play with him,” Kyle said. “I would always try to trick him — just give him a random remote and just play against the computer so I could have some competition.”
“Had me thinking I was playing and stuff,” Smith remembered.
Over the years, Smith managed to develop his gaming skills and got to the point where he is already aspiring to be a professional gamer. He is currently one of 250 hopefuls who are seeking to be drafted in the NBA 2K League and fill in the 63 available roster spots on various teams.
Lakers Gaming holds the No. 1 overall pick along with four other selections in the draft. Luckily for Smith, also known by his gamer tag ‘SpaceJamDre', the Lakers are in need of a shooting guard which is the same position that he plays.
Getting selected by the Purple and Gold would allow the gamers to train in the team's facility in El Segundo, California, where Kuzma and the Lakers hold their practice sessions.
Unknown to many, NBA 2K gamers do make a ton of money and are earning more than $30,000 in base salary alone. In addition, they also get to compete in tournaments with corresponding cash prize pools. Similar to NBA players, 2K gamers can also ink sponsorship deals and even earn sponsorship deals amounting to almost $100,000 a year.
More than anything, Kyle Kuzma knows that getting drafted will be a dream come true for his 21-year-old brother and the opportunity will ultimately allow him to make a name for himself in the professional gaming industry.
“This is going to mean everything for him,” Kuzma said. “This is what he does every single day — he plays video games eight-plus hours a day. That tells you how serious he is about this. I know it’s tough, for him, his whole life to have that label of being ‘Kuz’s little brother.’ Nobody wants to have their life defined like that. For him, he’s trying to make his own name.”
Kyle Kuzma makes a whole lot more money as a pro baller, but his brother has also come a long way from just being someone his older sibling used to make fun of to becoming a successful baller himself, at least virtually.
