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When five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman was interviewed throughout Netflix’s Last Dance documentary, he defined how he’d have associates shoot hoops from all angles nicely into the morning simply to extra precisely observe rebounds and work out the place he wanted to be to scoop up possession.
Review information
Platform reviewed: PS5 (on PS5 Pro)
Available on: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
Release date: September 5, 2025 (Early entry one week prior)
Why do I convey that up when speaking about basketball sport NBA 2K26? Because, as a lot as rebounds are much less show-stopping than acrobatic dunks, they’re the premise on which profitable groups construct assaults, and each single late-night session predicting angles and flight paths led to Rodman changing into an NBA legend.
While NBA 2K26 may not hit those heights (at least not yet), what’s here plasters over some of the cracks in last year’s game to offer the best digital basketball experience in years.
No More Bricks
I enjoyed my time with NBA 2K25, but I know I’m in the minority for that. A big reason that the community found itself divided by last year’s game was 2K’s commitment to revamping a core part of the experience, which we’ve been used to over the last decade and change: the shot meter.
While last year put an awful lot of emphasis on the ever-present danger of shooting a brick and fluffing your lines, this year it’s much more forgiving. It’s not quite a walkback to earlier games, but it feels like Visual Concepts has done an awful lot to rework the act of shooting the basketball, or driving to the rim, this time around.
You’ll still throw some absolute honkers if you’re not careful, but you always feel more in control, whereas last year things felt a little too random.
Last year, it took a major shine off of the otherwise stellar animation system that did a better job of making players feel like they were moving more realistically, and in vastly improving offense this year, the whole game feels like it’s faster. It’s not quite arcadey, but it’s a more exciting sim than it’s been in years.
Now, you’re not missing easy layups or having to spam dribbling moves to find a tiny opening, because all players feel much more capable of scoring points from anywhere, and player locomotion feels just a little slicker.
That also ties into the long-running player builds system. Last year, unless you invested a ton of stat points into your player (or real currency), you’d find yourself missing simple shots. This time around, the new ‘MP’ (your in-game avatar in MyPlayer) feels much more like the talented prospect they’re supposed to be at the start of the story.
Rags to Riches (Again)
That brings us nicely to MyPlayer, the mode from which many of NBA 2K26’s others flow. Let’s start with the good: Visual Concepts’ commitment to having a single, central created player remains something I wish rivals would adopt.
It’s awesome to be able to build up your version of MP in one mode before taking them online, and while the story here is pretty predictable, it remains a fun way to build your player’s legend from high school to the NBA.
Cutscenes look better, although they naturally pale in comparison to the on-court action, but what’s here is more of the same.
There’s a downside to that, too, and it’s VC. You’ll earn currency through playing, but as with any NBA 2K instalment, you can spend plenty of real cash to grow your player quickly and into one of the in-game archetypes.
My Small Forward has enjoyed a meteoric rise (at least according to the MyPlayer storyline), but he’s still nowhere near as impressive as anyone who’s thrown their currency of choice at the game.
Elsewhere, MyGM remains one of my favorite ways to play despite not having any major improvements this year after its re-emergence in 2K25. There are fresh long-term goals called Offseason Scenarios, and they feature real-world examples like a Bulls rebuild or weighing up how to follow up the Warriors’ Steph Curry era.
Best Bit
Jettisoning the controversial shooting meter from last year, NBA 2K26 feels like a game full of subtle changes that make scoring points more fun than ever, whether you’re in the paint or shooting from distance.
They’re not the kind of things that you’ll necessarily be entirely drawn into, but they’re a neat addition that gives you something to strive for. Still, for a longstanding NBA fan, the continued support for MyNBA Eras remains something that puts rivals to shame. You can now copy a MyPlayer into a classic era of the NBA, letting you rub shoulders with Larry Bird or Michael Jordan.
Speaking of dream scenarios, MyTeam is back and, as always, it’s very easy to throw VC points at pack openings. I do appreciate that the mode is pretty rewarding when it comes to offline play. I’m decent at 2K, but the game’s fervent community could slap me six ways to Sunday, so it’s nice to be in control of what I play if I want to push for better players for my squad.
This year sees the debut of the WNBA in the mode, which is a huge move that’s been a long time coming. EA FC has seen plenty of success by adding the women’s game into Ultimate Team, but the nature of basketball as a sport where height makes a big difference means that it’s not uncommon for one player to absolutely tower over another.
It perhaps wouldn’t be a huge issue if you could rotate your squad to place smaller, faster players in more attacking roles rather than expecting them to stop a 7ft 7 juggernaut, but that’s at odds with having players with roles and positions assigned to them when they’re fresh out of packs.
Back to the city
Look, I’ll be honest: I’ve never really enjoyed The City. The mode has always felt like a good idea that’s had too much executive input, designed to draw players in to drop their VC to build their player and buy clothing and shoes.
Last year took the smart step of finally shrinking the playspace, and NBA 2K26 goes one step further with interconnected areas that make it much easier to get to where you need to be.
Perhaps the best thing I can say about The City is that performance is vastly improved. Last year’s game got a PS5 Pro update, but it always felt laggy on Sony’s latest system. This 12 months, it’s nonetheless not as responsive as enjoying on the courtroom, however it’s noticeably simpler to navigate.
That brings us, lastly, to NBA 2K26’s presentation. Put merely, that is the best-looking sports activities sport round, a minimum of on PS5 Pro. When Visual Concepts boasted about with the ability to see the pores on gamers’ faces forward of launch, I scoffed. As it seems, you actually can see the pores on participant faces, in addition to stitching on footwear, and people all-important reflective surfaces just like the shiny courtroom.
Should you play NBA 2K26?
Play it if…
Don’t play it if…
Accessibility
NBA 2K26 has a few accessibility features. You can adjust shot timing windows and visual cues, while there are difficulty settings, too. Vibration and DualSense triggers could be tweaked, too.
Perhaps most impressively is that the shot meter, which could be difficult to identify within the chaos of an ongoing match, could be custom-made with a wide range of choices. It’s not strictly there for accessibility functions, however that customization might be an enormous boon for many who want further visible readability.
How I reviewed NBA 2K26
Having reviewed multiple NBA titles across different platforms in recent years, I played this one on my PS5 Pro, with the usual DualSense wireless controller, the Astro A50 X headset, and on a Sky Glass TV.
I’ve most lately performed NBA 2K25 within the final couple of months, so I’ve a great grasp of what’s modified. I constructed up an honest beginning line-up in MyTeam throughout this present evaluate interval and spent a while working my method via the ranks in MyTeam.
I additionally explored The City, was destroyed by different gamers in pick-up video games, and started the journey to take the Chicago Bulls again to a brand new period of dominance.
First reviewed August-September 2025