EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Playing for a professional sports franchise is no longer exclusive to how fast you can run or how high you can jump.

The Los Angeles Lakers now have a team of professional gamers for their “Lakers Gaming” team, a part of the NBA 2K League.  Twenty-one of the 30 NBA franchises now have their own team in the league.

eSports has become serious business, in fact, over the course of an 18-week season, top gamers are paid $35,000 plus room and board and they also have a shot at the nearly $2 million prize pool for winning tournaments.

Best of all, these players are actual members of the Lakers organization.

Lakers Gaming team captain Mitchell “Mooty” Franklin says this whole thing is pretty surreal.

“Everyday, just being in the same building as like some of the greats legends and NBA players, I mean I could one day just run into LeBron and say what's up,” said Franklin.

But there's a lot more that goes into being a pro gamer than just a love of video games.

Lakers Gaming coach and general manager Matt Makovec is there to go over game strategy, much like any basketball coach would.

“Being able to help guide the team to make sure we're making those right decisions and we're in the right rotations at all times is something that's fun to me,” said Makovec.

Another big part of it all is the focus on a healthy lifestyle, which helps gamers perform at the highest of levels.  

That means maintaining good eating habits and attending weekly workout sessions. 

But Franklin is not so much a fan of the high intensity workouts, yet.

“I'm telling you, doing twice a week, a good one day, you're sore for days,” he said.

But for Franklin, it's all worth it to achieve his main goal. 

“I want people to remember my work and I want to be able to bring championships to L.A.” he said.

Maybe something for parents to consider the next time they tell their kids to turn off that video game and go outside and play.