What year did the NBA 2K League start?

The NBA 2K League started in 2018, when its inaugural competitive season was played.

The league was created through a partnership between the National Basketball Association and Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of NBA 2K. The partnership was announced in February 2017, but the league began actual competition the following year.

The inaugural season opened on May 1, 2018, with 17 NBA-affiliated teams. Players competed in five-on-five Pro-Am matches using customized MyPlayers rather than controlling existing NBA stars. The season ended on August 25, when Knicks Gaming won the first championship.

A common mix-up is answering 2017 because that was the year the league was announced and organized. For questions asking when the league started operating or began play, 2018 is the canonical answer.