NBA 2K25 MyNBA & MyGM Courtside Report

[bigE819]

https://nba.2k.com/2k25/courtside-report/mynba/

This morning, 2K dropped their awaited MyNBA Courtside Report. The new Era is the "Steph Era" starting in 2016-17 and MyGM is also returning, now allowing you to walk around the Front Office. MyNBA received some minor updates, revolving around Scheduling, League Expansion and Contraction, MyStaff, and League News.

To say I am underwhelmed, wouldn't be accurate. I expected a Curry Era, I didn't expect and world changing improvements to MyNBA, but I definitely didn't expect this. I think a lot of us in the community just wanted some polish to MyNBA, we wanted accurate uniforms/courts in Eras, a better stat-sim engine, and overall CPU-GM AI. MyGM returning is a shock to me...MyNBA was literally created to combine MyLeague & MyGM, which I don't believe was working, but should have. Going into this summer I wasn't looking forward to 2K25, it felt like the summer going into 2K23, where I felt like 2K had to provide their value again. As someone who hasn't been able to get into eras, due to the lack of attention to detail. I've been playing full 82g/12minQ MyNBA seasons, so I'm genuinely interested in MyGM, especially if we have the customization suit of MyNBA still.

I am really interested to hear everyone else's thoughts.

[timmyd]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I too would play 12 min q games, maybe not all 82 because I elect to do multi team control. But definitely, I play key games and key playoff games.

With that being said, I am not as excited from a console perspective but I am super excited from the PC perspective. Through 2k23 and 2k24, I wished we could run reshaders on console so that player skins would look different, the courts may look nicer... but we didn't have that capability.

Irrespective of if we get to mod the heck out of 2k25, or even at all.. I am super happy with the ability to just simply fix colours and run reshaders. Especially for the LeBron ERA playoff games, getting that fog/smoke effect at the Boston Garden for the big 3's first game... would be sick.

Also, let's remain positive. Perhaps they have tweaked all the details you mentioned but they simply didn't go into full detail. They generalized it. Maybe there is hope...

[Andrew]

A summary of the key points for anyone who wants them:

• The RPG-based MyGM returns in the New Gen version of NBA 2K25, after originally being merged into MyNBA in NBA 2K21.
• There are multiple backstories to choose from in MyGM: an ex-player transitioning to the front office, an ex-scout being promoted, a financial savant, a capitalist with connections, or an expert dealmaker. Your choice in backstory determines your starting attributes.
• GM attributes include Offensive Coaching, Defensive Coaching, Sports Medicine, Business, Charisma, and Analytics. They determine your strengths, weaknesses, and ideal gameplan as far as running a franchise, impacting both on-court performance and success in front office tasks.
• Completing Goals in MyGM earns XP to level up and earn an attribute point, with a maximum level of 20. Hitting levels 4, 8, 12, and 16 will allow you to choose from a list of Perks that provide a significant boost to your GM abilities. Reaching the level cap of 20 will earn two final Perks. Each backstory also has its own unique “ultimate” Perk, chosen at level 12.
• There will be 55 Perks available at launch, with more added throughout the year. Basically, there will be MyGM Builds, similar to MyPLAYER Builds.
• MyGM includes conversations with staff and players, which set specific goals. There are a small number of impactful conversations, in order to avoid constant prompts to chat.
• Backstory and attributes play a role in the success of conversations with staff and players. With suitable charisma, you can unlock easier goals and access a wider range of responses that guide the conversation.
• A MyGM Building has been added, essentially acting as the GM version of The City in MyCAREER where you can free roam and interact with your staff.
• Similar to MyNBA, MyGM in NBA 2K25 includes a Ranked mode with Leaderboards. If you get fired, it’s game over.
• MyNBA Eras now includes the Steph Era, beginning with the 2016-17 season. The Magic vs. Bird Era, Jordan Era, Kobe Era, LeBron Era, and of course the Modern Era (i.e. traditional current season franchise play) also return.
• The NBA Cup, aka the In-Season Tournament, now has more in-depth integration to reflect the real event. It also now supports between 12 and 36 teams to accommodate customised leagues.
• Up to six teams can be added or removed every season in MyNBA, rather than just six per save, allowing for greater flexibility in league customisation.
• The League News hub will once again change according to eras, with a newspaper, Web 1.0, and social media interfaces returning. NBA 2K25 will also add a Web 2.0 interface to bridge the gap in the 2000s, with menus very reminiscent of NBA 2K11.
• MySTAFF has been condensed from 17 staff members to just seven: Governor, GM, Assistant GM, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Head Coach, Head Scout and Team Doctor. This has been done to streamline hiring and avoid overwhelming gamers with too many tasks. Bonus Staff can also be hired under these categories to gain further boosts.

[Andrew]

I'm not surprised that the new era is the Steph Era; I think most of us predicted that. I personally prefer the sandbox/traditional approach of MyNBA to MyGM, but it's cool to see the latter return. Even though they essentially combined MyLEAGUE and MyGM to make MyNBA, clearly there's interest in an RPG-driven approach, and that should mean separate franchise modes. As someone who has played a lot of MyCAREER over the past decade or so though, my warning would be that running around a virtual building to talk to staff as NPCs is likely going to get very old very fast, but at least it's not an entire neighbourhood/city!

Seasonal drops for Perks for MyGM Builds, not unlike MyPLAYER animations and so forth, is something I have mixed feelings about. I'm guessing it'll work out better than MyCAREER since it won't involve the same kind of grinding to level up a single player, but nevertheless, I remain wary of modes driven by live service content given 2K's record in recent years. If nothing else, it might mean that MyGM won't be available without the servers. We'll see.

Other than that though, the additions and changes to MyNBA Eras sound pretty solid and logical. Nothing too ground-breaking, but expanded functionality never goes astray. If I get into NBA 2K25's gameplay, I have a feeling that it'll be my mode of choice.

[TGsoGood]

I remember when MyGM info was considered seperate from franchise mode news.
I will give MyGM a try but I will just accept whatever shortcomings that MyNBA has as long as I don't experience the mode crashing, downloaded team designs not showing up, and corrupted save files. Definitely not excited about this release though, just accepting this is the only updated sim basketball game available.

[Andrew]

On one hand, those fixes and enhancements aren't usually the things that get mentioned in the developer blogs. On the other hand, it would be nice to actually hear about those details as much as an interactive world in MyGM and the like. Even something generic like "increased stability for custom images", "enhanced sim engine", and so forth, would've been slightly encouraging and probably what a lot of people wanted to hear, even if it didn't completely allay their concerns and scepticism.