NBA 2K25 Wishlist

[Andrew]

NBA 2K25 Wishlist

Here is our official NBA 2K25 Wishlist topic! This is the place to post constructive feedback that will be submitted to the NBA 2K Development Team; that means anything from bugs that need fixing, to features that you want to see added or improved upon, to anything else you feel would make future NBA 2K games better.

A couple of notes and important suggestions on how to give the most comprehensive and useful feedback (based on previous conversations with developers):

Important Notes & Suggestions

Please keep this stuff in mind as you're posting your ideas!

• One suggested format is to post your top 15-20 wishes/suggestions for the game, ie. the 15-20 most important things that NBA 2K25 needs to do/add/improve upon. If you have a couple of extra points, that's fine, but try to prioritise. If you don't have that many suggestions, that's fine too; just post the feedback you have and want to share with the developers.
  
  
• Alternatively, post your top ten or so suggestions you have for different aspects of the game, such as gameplay, game modes, presentation, features, and so on. Again, if you have less than ten, no problem. That's a strongly suggested maximum for the lists, not a minimum.
  
  
• Make sure that you elaborate and post further details where necessary. There's no need to write an essay - there's nothing wrong with being brief, direct, and to the point - but saying things like "better gameplay" doesn't give enough feedback. Explain how you want gameplay to get better, what changes are required to see an improvement. Mention specific issues, along with relevant improvements and fixes you want to see. A few sentences or subpoints are fine, and will add clarification.
  
  
• Be constructive! No insults, flaming or bashing in this thread. If you're not interested in providing actual feedback and discussing ways to improve the game, please move along. If you want to vent about NBA 2K43, please feel free to make use of other threads in the Forum, but this is a thread for constructive feedback only. You don't need to sugarcoat things, or hold back on talking about stuff that needs to be fixed, just don't be abusive or needlessly snarky. Explaining what you think is broken or unsatisfactory, and what you want to see changed, is useful feedback. Telling the developers they're stupid, suck, and you hate them, on the other hand, is not.
  
  
• Lists of bugs that haven't been resolved in the NBA 2K24 title updates are also most welcome.

That's about it. Feel free to start posting your ideas and if you have any further questions, just ask. We'll be passing along all feedback in an organised list, which will also contain a "Top Wishes" section based on general consensus.

[Hawksfan18]

Owner mode: where you start off as a unknown person buying a new team and u created that team in your own envision such as u can either relocate the team change logos revamped the arena with city and government help fire and hire staff personnel people having to where u have a process that you would go to in order for the new owner can get approved by the nba governors by a governors vote by the league make it realistic or have a new GM mode or have it combined to where if u started as a new unknown gm that u can actually sign a contract this time with actual goals from the owner that u must meet or u would get fired and etc have it to where once u want to get a promotion u can go to become the new Basketball of Opps and GM too to where u can hired a new gm if u became the new Basketball Opps from that promotion too.

[scootover7]

Things I can think of I'd love to see

1) Be able to sign 10 day contracts

2) Draft List- I would compare this to a draft board a bit, only starting for example 2025 Draft your board might look like this

3 Point Sharpshooter Playmaking specialist 1) Was - Jacob Roberts - PG/SG- 6'6" 225 LBS- Duke - 20 yrs old 7"0"

In the first column you have the playstyle, the second column the number of pick third column, team, fourth column player name, then position or position in 5th column, 6th column height, 7th column weight 8th column College, 9th column players age and 10th column wingspan, you could add an 11th column if you wanted a player or player comparison .

There would be anywhere from 31-37 rows, because you would need one row for the columns, and then how ever many teams from 30-36 .

You would need 10 columns and 31-37 rows, also listed if they were traded on draft and to who under the team name,

when a player in any draft becomes a star either his name is changed to yellow letters or a rectangle would be drawn around his name, if you're not sure what I'm talking about go to Wikipedia and type in for example 2003 draft . So from 2025 to the next 80 years of MyLeague you see the draft list


3) Shaqtin A Fool- would love to see this into the game, per week you can watch the Shaqtin A Fool for that week, it just would be interesting and funny.

4) Scouting- I'd love to be able to watch some highlights of players I've scouted


5) Bring Back Colleges maybe at least 50 Colleges, I wouldn't mind seeing College Games brought back, I know probably not likely


Just some thoughts what do you think

[ThePointForward]

1. Make key game detection logic based on average and not personal best
This is for MyCareer, obviously assuming that key games are making a return in 2K25.
As of now, key games seem to be detected on a basis of personal best which sometimes requires huge feats in key games (or repeat key games).

Example: Franchise single season record for assists.
Player averages 20 assists per game, but one time they broke the NBA record and netted 33 assists.
The key game is triggered when player is missing 28 assists to break the team record.
Desired outcome: game should simulate another game, add 20 assists as per the average and then trigger key game with 8 assists remaining.
Alternatively give player a choice between doing the above or attempting an above average performance.

2. Make scouting/drafting inaccurate for AI
In MyLeague (or MyNBA, but you know what I mean) the scouting and drafting is pretty much perfect. This is best seen with historical starts where old drafts are nowhere near the real drafts, but are instead pretty much perfect.

3. Various other improvements for MyLeague
Ability to retire jerseys, buyout player contracts and other stuff.

4. Take Charles Barkley's offer
You know what I'm talking about. 1 million per year to retired player association.

5. Go F2P already
With the current monetization model it's time to make MyCareer and MyTeam free to play. IIRC the sales went down and after-purchase revenue went up this year.

6. Full offline MyCareer
Can't access online features, but isn't bogged down by online balancing - actually able to create a superstar.

7. PS5 Pro version
Oh and please make it run butter smooth on PS5 Pro. I'll rather have smooth 60 fps experience than some hard to notice extra effects.

[Desal wen]

Bring Back Colleges maybe at least 50 Colleges, I wouldn't mind seeing College Games brought back, I know probably not likely

[Dmayne]

I wish to have:

-Current gen version for PC players.

-Updated tendencies and gear for retro teams.
-Add Warmups for classic teams.
-Full TNT/retro TNT Presentation for current and classic games.
-Retro undershorts, we need a shorter version that works with short shorts or allow us to adjust length on current version.
-Add "Team DNA" Allow us to just download/upload "Edited Teams"(gear/shoes/tendencies/attributes/mins played/coach name/faces/playbooks/etc..). Would be great to just download a updated classic team from the community with accurate (gear/shoes/roster/tendencies) and just drop it into my roster.

ADD TEAMS:
-92-93 Suns (with or without barkley)
-96-97 Rockets (with or without barkley)
-94-95 Pacers (with or without reggie)
-99-00 Pacers (with or without reggie)
-03-04 Pacers (with or without reggie)
-96-97 Pistons
-96-97 Magic
-Classic All-Star Teams
-1992/1996/2008 USA Teams

ADD SHOES:
-Nike Air Go
-Nike Air Flight One
-Nike Air Up
-Nike Zoom Rookie
-Nike Air Max Penny
-Nike Penny IV
-Nike Air Ballistic Force
-Nike Air Flight Lite High
-Nike Air Maestro
-Nike Pippen 1
-Nike Air Force 180
-Nike Air Force Max

[A_Jm93]

My wishlist is purely MyLeague/MyNba/Eras based, as that's the only mode I play.

More choice: It's automated who makes the Hall of Fame and who gets their jersey retired. We should have the choice to choose from the list of recently retired players. It's not always stars who get jerseys retired after all, role players with significantly tenures can receive the honour too.

Career revivals or endings: Retired players making comebacks. Obviously you can make a created player and just import an existing player but it doesn't count towards stats or anything. I feel it's small but would be a cool feature. I feel being able to force a retirement would be something too

Variety of accessories/hair etc.: Given that next gen has MyEras, I feel there should be more variety for era appropriate accessories and haircuts etc. It'd be great just to be able to add goggles or facemasks too. That's not just era specific. In reality, if a player has a significant injury to the face or eyes, that often results in face masks or goggles being worn. And it might sound silly but having more than just one "balding" option for hair would be good.

Better use of half time: As someone previously mentioned, Shaq'tin a Fool would be something cool to have during half time, instead of the poor acts, like trampoline dunkers and a woman doing a circus act. It seems to fall flat even with the virtual audience so something like Shaq'tin would be a massive improvement.

[vinrich10]

ERAS

Accuracy
Trophies
- Regular Season Trophies
- NBA Finals MVP Trophy

Courts
- Example: Suns ’92 & ’95, Pistons ’96

Misc.
- Stanchion's
- Playoff Logos: 85-95, 96-99, 00-02, 03, 04-17
- Off-Season | 80s-90s: No Summer League & 2K Hoops Summit

Decade Breakdown
90s Example
- Bulls (91-93)
- Rockets (94-95)
- Bulls (96-98)

All Star Courts: Ability to edit the floor

Retirements:Ability to retire & un-retire players


CUSTOMIZATION
Arenas & Courts: Ability to edit without losing current arena/court

[Bassman58]

I only play PC offline modes so that's all I can comment on.

Allow a save that does not exit MyLeague so you have to load MyLeague again. Just a simple save my game now.
Have save actually restart at the point the save occurred. Sometimes the save goes back 2 minutes in game time. Only saves after timeouts function correctly. A save in the second half even went back to the first half. Be able to save Play Now games. Not everybody can play a full game in one sitting. Real life sometimes interrupts.

Use shot distribution charts for players so their shot tendency locations and hot/cold areas are more accurate. Offline roster makers have done this in the past.

While highlights are still playing the referee gives the ball to the team for the inbounds but you can't see this resulting in 5 second calls for yourself or the opponents getting an unfair fastbreak or advantage.

3 second calls. User gets 2.99999 seconds. CPU gets 5 or 6 seconds.

Out of bounds plays. User gets 4.99999 seconds. CPU gets 6 or more seconds. Don't the user and CPU use the same clock?

These issues have existed since at least 2K19.

Pronounce names correctly. PA announcer and play by play commentators differ. Franz and Mo Wagner are pronounced "vogner". Sika Kone (WNBA) is pronounced "ko-nay" not cone as in ice cream cone. Stephens gets pronounced like "stevens" and like Stephen Curry. Many are difficult since they are spelled the same. At least choose one way to pronounce the names. When editing you can choose the pronunciation you want when there are two or more choices. Another is Perovich. pero VITCH or pair RO vitch.

Follow the actual NBA roster restrictions. 18 players are allowed. Do not limit teams to less than 18. The official 2K rosters have 20 players but if you delete or make a player a free agent you are restricted to 15 players. Very inconsistent. This effects MyLeague which limits you to 14.

Actual NBA rosters have 3 two way players for 2023-24 not 2 as was the case previously. Follow NBA roster guidelines.

Add the WNBA rookies in the May update. Especially this year there is an opportunity for 2K to attract a new audience. These players can easily have cyberfaces made in the winter when most draft eligible players are known.

Add create a player (CAP) for females. Then we can create the rookies if 2K is unable to for legal reasons. I'm sure the rookies are in the WNPBA (player's association).

[AndaleO]

NBA Eras

Please, Please add Warmups for Benchplayers Bird Era, Jordan Era!!!!!!

[CR2]

Olympic Basketball in MyNBA ERAs

At the top of my wishlist is having Olympic basketball content integrated into MyNBA ERAs so that through the years you can play as the original USA teams from 1984 on or change them up as you see fit. So when 2004 comes around, for example, you could see to it that Duncan and Iverson are joined by the rest of our best at that time (Garnett, Kobe, Shaq, etc.) to represent the USA in Athens.

Olympic Basketball History Mode

At the very least, hopefully, the resources that have been dedicated to the Jordan Challenge mode and the Mamba Moments mode over the past two installments are being committed to an Olympic history basketball mode for NBA 2K25.

[bigE819]

As someone who has played every single title since 2K10, I feel like I have a strong understanding of what Take Two is capable of and willing to do. I play most simulation style offline game modes, so do not expect much in terms of MyCareer or MyTeam, as this will mostly focus on MyNBA and other more general features.

Gameplay:
I know gameplay has been a hot topic ever since NBA 2K really hit the online scene to the extreme back around the turn of the PS4 generation, and it's created a tug-of-war between 5v5 offline "sim" players and online "comp" players. And I believe I have the solution to solve everyone's issues. On older 2K's there were different slider sets built into the game (Default, Simulation, Casual), and while this would not provide any sort of fix to today's game, I think the general idea would. We need different game styles (I believe Madden has this too):

-Default: Similar to 2K23's, made to pick-up and play, made to be realistic.
-Competitive: Made for online gameplay (or offline H2H), stick skills are king, jump shots must be greened to go in, and contested makes are a rarity.
-Simulation: Made for offline gameplay to play like the real NBA. Players can randomly start the game Hot or Cold, contested shots can be made, open shots are not a guarantee, and running plays and making adjustments in key.
-Ultra-Simulation: Made for 12 Minute Quarter, offline gameplay made to absolutely resemble the real NBA. Players can randomly start the game Hot or Cold (but this is not seen by the user), contested shots can be made, open shots are not a guarantee, and running plays and making adjustments in key. TV timeouts and time between quarters are given for more time for users to make adjustments (these screens, plus the timeout screen should include all coaching options in the pause menu as well. If you play without making adjustments all game, don't expect to win much here. (You could even add different eras)
PlayNow:

-Allow custom arena selections like on PS3 era 2K's
-Allow for changing the game type, where you can choose regular season (Local, National TV), Playoffs (First Round, Second Round, Conference Finals, NBA Finals) and even include the situation of the series (ex. down 3-2)
-Allow for a custom year selection, taking advantage of MyNBA era's resources/filters (ex. taking the 87 Lakers and 86 Celtics, picking Game 7 and 1987 and having it end with a David Stern hand out the old school Finals MVP Trophy, with the old NBA Playoff logos on the floor.
Blacktop:

-Let players wear their uniforms.
-Create new venues (Gym, Rooftop, Park)
-Allow a setting to disable the Park moves.
Roster:

-Change Current Lakers Home/Away Uniforms to be Gold/Purple (not White/Gold)
-Allow customization of Teams (even if this requires you to not be able to share that roster)

-Change Team Name (ex. Changing the All Time Pelicans into the New Orleans Jazz)
-Change default logo (ex. making the All-Time Lakers the 1985 Lakers by taking the 1987 Lakers Logo)
-Change the default uniform (ex. making the All-Time Wizards home uniform the 1965 Boston Celtics Home Uniform.
-Allow Jersey Numbers to be un-retired.
-Create a Free Agent pool of legends who haven't made another historic team.
-Add shoes to all historic players or at least made 2K Generics look like a generic shoe, not a huge 2K logo.
-Allow for injured players to be traded.
-Add all Nike Uniforms ever worn by teams. (At least since 2021, since they all have Next-Gen Scans)

-2019 Raptors don't even have the Uniforms they won the title in.
-2013 Heat's away uniforms are currently incorrect (They say Heat but those uniforms were retired after the 2012 season for the black uniforms that say Miami)
-Fix courts for recent historic teams (2014 Pacers, 2012 Thunder, etc.)
-Add more historic teams! I don't care if they feel like repeat teams, the more the merrier! Every single NBA Finals Team should be added. I'm not joking, 2015, 2017, 2018 Cavs, 2022 Celtics, 2023 Nuggets, at least every finals team since 1983. Plus:

2021 Brooklyn Nets
2018 Houston Rockets
2016 Oklahoma City Thunder
2016 San Antonio Spurs
2014 Oklahoma City Thunder
2013 Los Angeles Lakers
2009 Cleveland Cavaliers
2009 Denver Nuggets
2006 Los Angeles Lakers
1995 Chicago Bulls
1994 Chicago Bulls
1993 Phoenix Suns (Yes even without Barkley, give us the team's assets)
1976 New York Nets
1976 Denver Nuggets
1972 Los Angeles Lakers (Even if you want to drop the 71 Lakers, this needs to be here)
1967 Philadelphia 76ers
And more
-Add every US Olympic Team (2K has the USA Basketball license), at least since 1992, plus 84 and 60.
-Add generic country teams like NHL has (ex. a Slovenia Team that just has their flag and generic uniforms that say their name and has the best current Slovenians)
-Add 10-30 non-rostered custom teams to be uploaded and downloaded using the full suit of MyNBA customization features, where you can use custom logos and uniforms. Assuming 2K is not willing to let individuals use custom logos within a traditional roster.
-Add TeamDNA, to allow for individuals be able to upload/download custom teams.
-Allow for downloading simulation sliders.
MyNBA:

-Allow for custom start year (with specific era effects in place) even if 2K does not provide roster.
-Remove player potential rating and go all in on Potential Floor & Potential Ceiling.

-Create more busts and gems.
-Fix legacy issues with salary cap and player development
-Allow for more than 6 expansion teams
-Allow for custom division/conference amounts
-Allow for custom scheduling rules (ex. only play teams in Division)
-Allow for custom playoffs (No playoffs-64 teams)
Situation Mode:

-Bring back Situation mode from NBA 2K10 and 2K11
-Take advantage of my PlayNow situation features to be able to set the atmosphere (ex. NBA Finals Game 7)
-Allow for custom rosters
-Allow for uploading and downloading custom situations.
-Create default (CUSTOMIZABLE) situations from real NBA history (ex. Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, 35 Seconds to go) to play out of the box.

Update the mode throughout the year to provide players the ability to recreate the best moments of the 2024 season.
General:

-Custom rosters everywhere offline (Eras PlayNow, PLAYOFF MODE please make it useable for one, 2KU).
-Just increase customizability everywhere.
-More filters for 60s-70s
-Make the AI more intelligent.

[GeorgeMoon]

Olympic Basketball in MyNBA ERAs

At the top of my wishlist is having Olympic basketball content integrated into MyNBA ERAs so that through the years you can play as the original USA teams from 1984 on or change them up as you see fit. So when 2004 comes around, for example, you could see to it that Duncan and Iverson are joined by the rest of our best at that time (Garnett, Kobe, Shaq, etc.) to represent the USA in Athens.

Olympic Basketball History Mode

At the very least, hopefully, the resources that have been dedicated to the Jordan Challenge mode and the Mamba Moments mode over the past two installments are being committed to an Olympic history basketball mode for NBA 2K25.

Oh yes, the national teams. The career mode where you can be called up to play for the national team in the Olympic Games!

[Andrew]

Many thanks for the thoughtful post, bigE819! Even with NBA 2K25 around the corner, I still need to assemble my Wishlist so that I've got it on hand to update for NBA 2K26 accordingly. That way, we can get onto these efforts much quicker after NBA 2K25 is released.

[rickiu]

1995-96 season roster in MyNBA ERAs.
There were so many talented and legendary players right between 1991 and 2000 season! And 95-96 was the first season (72-10) of the best ever second 3-peat of MJ `s Chicago Bulls!!!!!

[Andrew]

I'd love to have the 1996 season as a starting point!

[stayheavy87]

The option to change the quarter lenght of simulated games in my career.