KontruL

Chris Cantrell is an American esports player. The guy was born and raised in the Sunshine State, or more commonly known - Florida, Jacksonville. 

Nowadays, Chris is a member of the NBA 2K esports basketball team called “Lakers Gaming” and the holder of the points guard position #7. Along with his teammates Mitchell Franklin (Mootyy), Jordan Gates (Vert), Kevin Alvarado(Kev), Sten Valge-Saar (Sau), Wady Tactuk (Tactuk), and Antonio Valladares (Dweq).  

However, Chris Cantrell has not always been a member of the Lakers Gaming team. He started his way in cybersports from the Magic Gaming squad, the members of which were Nacho Traynor, Marley123S, Ucmanny, etc. In 2018, based on tests and skills, he was selected to the team. In the same year, he was transferred to the Lakers Gaming. He differs from his teammates by a special playstyle, namely a fascinating combination of attack and defense. He can be aggressive in defense and defend well in attack. 

Chris Cantrell's love was passionate about playing games since his early childhood. Being a few years old boy, he already played simple card games with his sister Catelyn. Innocent Pokemon battles very soon appeared to be intense competitions with his mates. Chris became really fond of playing sports. 

Unlike other boys of his age, he was not interested in dressing in football gear or kicking a ball. He was often seen in front of his bedroom TV while immersing himself in the virtual world of sports. He always came home from the high school in Jacksonville and immediately rushed to his TV, where he stayed up to 8 hours playing various video games. 

Chris’s PlayStation and controller became the things which he held in his hands the most often during the day. And after years of developing and improving his craft, Cantrell found out that he was step by step climbing the ladder in the professional gaming community. 

Chris Cantrell chose NBA 2K League, despite the fact he was really new to basketball and had never played it before. However, Chris got to know the esports world quite quickly with the help of such top-rated organizations as FaZe Clan and OpTic Gaming battled in numerous Call of Duty Tournaments. Chris likes to describe his thoughts at this time: he was impressed by the fact that someone could earn a living through playing video games, which was an effective way of motivating. 

Chris Cantrell, or more known for his nametag Kontrul, entered the competitive scene in 2016 when he qualified for a quarter of a million tournaments, which run under the title “The Road to Finals.” Unfortunately, Chris did not manage to win the tournament, but at that very time, the guy realized the significance of the gaming world and that it was the thing he could vigorously compete in. Chris disclosed the details about his feelings then: he understood he was quite good at cybersports. Since that period, Kontrul’s career has gathered momentum and the promising sports player won tournaments one by one.  

2018 was marked for Kontrol as the year when he got an opportunity to visit New York City and participate in the inauguration NBA 2K League Draft. That was the second time Chris was on a plane. Before this one, he was on a plane just once when his father moved from his Navy station Hawaii. This time Cantrell was not followed by his dad. Chris was waiting for new chances and opportunities, capable of uplifting his career. 

On the draft’s night, the esports player sat anxiously in his seat in the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden, in the heart of London, waiting to see his name and photo on the huge screen. He was supposed to go late in the very first round, or at least the second one. Thus when NBA 2K League managing director Brendan Donohue called Chris’s name and announced that he’d been selected as the eighth overall by the Magic Gaming team, everything Cantrell ever dreamt about became a reality. Kontrul confesses that all his thoughts, expectations and dreams seem to pay off then and hours, days, weeks spent playing video games were not in vain. 

Chris decided to spend 6 to 8 hours daily preparing for his 1st season as a professional gamer. He lived with a few of his teammates in Orlando, Florida. They had warm relationships, training and traveling to their events together. With the start of the season, their competitions were held on a weekly basis in New York several months ahead in 2017. Usually, approximately 200 people were attending the games while at the same time thousands of people watched them from their cozy homes on the streaming service called Twitch. The average result of Kontrul was 14.4 points per game in his first season with Magic Gaming, and the team itself went 8-6 rate. 

4 new teams refreshed the NBA 2K League during the hot summer of 2018. Lakers Gaming selected Chris with the fifth-overall pick in the September expansion draft. Being excited that he joined a new squad, Chris realized he would eagerly leave his comfort zone and move across the country for the forthcoming season. The guy thought there was so much to do in Los Angeles and anyone is given millions of opportunities here.