By JJ Beale

Tariq Reed is a 19-year-old from Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, he had dreams of being an
FBI Agent, inspired by shows like CSI and Criminal Minds. Although there was always a love
for video games that drew Reed in. It began with Call of Duty and eventually led to the NBA 2K
franchise. Ever since then, Reed has built a virtual brand, going by an alter ego and recognizable
gamer tag “Greens”. Reed is now a professional athlete at the age of 19, living out his virtual
dream.

Greens was the number two draft pick of Brooklyn NetsGC in the 2023 NBA 2K League Draft.
The Brooklyn native was drafted by his hometown team, something he believes was destiny,
“Playing for the same city I grew up in is a blessing,” said Reed. “It’s crazy how everything went
down… the first year I was in the league I was projected to go number one… it just proves some
things are worth waiting for.”

Reed earned a prospect badge as both an 18-year-old and 19-year-old, joining a pool of 100+
players competing for less than 50 spots. The qualities that differentiate one player from another are often marginal. For GM and Head Coach of NetsGC Ivan Curtiss, it was Reed’s character that assured Curtiss he was the right player.

“Everybody knew about the talent… he’s been a talent for a long time. After we interviewed him, I was like, ‘Man, I didn’t realize he was that good of a kid,’” said Curtiss. “At that moment, after we interviewed him, I felt even worse. Because if we don’t get him we’re not only missing out on a great player we’re going to miss out on a great kid, and that was the biggest thing that struck me,” said Curtiss.

Reed has been welcomed in by the veterans of NetsGC, Connor “Shotz” Rodrigues and Alex
“Steez” Bernstein who appreciate the youthful energy a 19-year-old has injected into the
franchise.

“Greens is a good guy. That’s one thing that I can appreciate a lot even though he is
very young and sometimes immature he knows when to focus on… he knows when there’s
money on the line or a championship series whatever it might be… he knows when it’s time to
get serious” said Bernstein .“I think it’s a lot to do with age… we’re mostly older guys already.
Just having a young kid in here is a fresh new energy… just having a younger guy around
definitely helps,” said Rodrigues.

The serious and youthful energy of Greens has been on full display for NetsGC in the early parts of the NBA 2K season. NetsGC was able to secure their first-ever 3v3 playoff berth and Greens was the only rookie point guard to lead his team to an automatic bid to the tournament. In contrast to previous seasons, NetsGC has shown chemistry on the court like never before. The team has thrived in bracket play, playing for a spot in the finals in two out of three tournaments so far for the first time in franchise history.

The Brooklyn native made an immediate impact in 3v3, averaging an astounding 10.6 points per
game while shooting 70.5% from the field and 48.5% from three.  “My first game I’m pretty sure
I averaged around 16-18 points in the series and I was saying to myself ‘I’m really in the league
now, I’m really doing this professionally’” said Reed.

While he has enjoyed a fair amount of success in the league so far, Reed’s path to the league has not been without bumps in the road. The 19-year-old has dealt with his fair share of struggles before getting into the league and has gone through growing pains as a rookie so far.

At 18, Reed was destined to be the number one pick in the NBA 2K League Draft. That was until Reed’s mother was diagnosed with renal kidney failure and he decided to drop out of the draft pool.

Reed became the primary caretaker for his mother, “My mom was home for a while during that
time and I would have to take her back-and-forth places,” said Reed. “Just be there morally, my
stepdad works a lot so my mom would have had nobody home. So just to be home for her and be able to do the things she needed to get done for her,” said Reed.

Even though he dropped out of the draft pool in 2022, Reed stayed dedicated to NBA 2K and
played whenever he could, “At night I would have the time to myself to go back and play Pro-
Am because Pro-Am is predominantly played at night… during the day just spending time with
my mom, doing things for my mom, and then at night I’m able to log back in and play the
game,” said Reed.

Expectations are lofty for the high lottery pick, yet Reed’s teammates can see his potential, “His
ceiling is one of the best,” said Rodrigues, “He can go five, six, seven more seasons and you look
back like ‘Yeah, he’s one of the best point guards ever.’”

“Him being 19 years old, this is one of those things where he could be in the league for eight,
nine, ten years if he really wanted to. If you think about the damage he’s already caused in this
league… there’s going to be a lot of hardware this kid brings home and a lot of money he brings
in for his family,” said Bernstein.

While he is only in his rookie campaign, the name Tariq Reed (or more recognizable Greens) has
the potential and pressure to be one of the all-time greats. And Reed is not backing down from
the hype, “When I’m done with the 2K League, I want to be on the ‘Mt. Rushmore’ of the all-
time point guards. I want to be the best point guard to ever touch the game.”