NBA 2K23 sees the annual return of the famed basketball series, and yet another round of the popular My Player and My Career modes. The former leads into the latter, with the My Player builder granted players the opportunity to “build” a player from the ground up, in the hope of establishing a “shade” of a past or present NBA superstar.
Some examples of these are Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Giannis, who can all be “created” in that your created player can have “shades” of those stars with their ceiling potential (ie. how high each key attributes can go).
I’ve already spent many hours building out different players, and have collated some of the best builds in NBA 2K23, but if you want to go at it alone and build a player from scratch, hopefully these tips can set you on the right direction towards building a demigod in NBA 2K23.
As with past years, the MyPlayer Builder in NBA 2K23 is the driving force in the experience: it feeds into the story-based MyCareer, as well as the online The City mode, where you can show off your threads and skills against players from around the world. Creating your player in the vision of an NBA star has always been one of the best features on NBA 2K, and this year’s entry is certainly no different.
There are some pretty big decisions you need to make when you first start up NBA 2K23 and start creating your player. Do you want to be a pass-first guard? A slashing guard? A defending guard? Do you want to be a point-forward? Or a high-scoring perimeter threat? Do you want to be a slow and clunky but powerful and intimidating centre? Or do you want to be an all-round threat that isn’t that strong? There’s an endless stream of creative outlets with NBA 2K23.
NBA 2K23 MyPlayer Builder tips
The same piece of advice I give with every new NBA 2K entry is to never over think the type of player you’re creating.
I know that sounds pretty trivial, but if you spend time over-thinking how your player’s finishing or defending attributes are, you’re probably going to end up with a one-dimensional slow hack. My advice is to freestyle across different attributes across the board, rather than one specific area, and spend time adjusting attributes on the fly to see what you end up with.
The good news is that, as with NBA 2K22, in NBA 2K23 you can create your player, see which past or present NBA player that have “shades” of, and you can then go back into editing the player without having to cycle back through the main menus. You can also have up to 10 builds in a save slot, which is convenient and allows you some trial-and-error flexibility.
Trial and error is a big part of the NBA 2K23 My Player Builder: don’t settle on your first build. Practice makes perfect, and you really want to make sure you have some sort of well-roundedness to your player’s abilities. Creating a centre with shades of Shaq might seem appealing, but that build is likely going to be very slow on the court, which doesn’t make for very fun gameplay. You might dominate around the ring, but it’s going to be difficult to get you up and down the court.
Think about the player you want to be
Identify key attributes that you know will best suit your play style, and get you to success as quickly as possible. If you like setting up teammates and running the fast break, prioritise speed, acceleration, passing, and ball handling first and foremost. If you want a player that is explosive and strong in close, focus on finishing moves and key physical attributes.
If you’re looking to build a player that is great in some areas — think Steph Curry as a shooter — then you need to consider the attributes around that skill set that are going to make a different. Curry, for example, is great at creating space and shooting off the dribble. This means your build is going to need strength in ball handling and speed, and even higher-than-average strength as a physical attribute, to ensure they can push off their defender if needed. Looking at a player like Giannis, and you want a strong finisher with a high basketball IQ. This is a player that can boost the team’s performance and morale, so focus on things that impact the crowd and opposition: dunks, blocks, offensive rebounds. It’s not just about his ability to hit a mid-range shot (which he can’t really do, anyway). The temptation is there to build a three-point shooter, but really have a think about the type of player you want.
Use real rosters as a guide
I always advise people to check the attributes of actual NBA players before they dive into the My Player creation suite. From here you can get a good look at each player’s key features and finishing moves. Each player has their Badges, Attributes and styles listed on their player profile, and without even noting down all of the attributes values it’s easy to get a rough round-about view of what type of player you need to create.
Some players are easier to create than others, but some have very specific and unique attribute breakdowns. Zion Williamson, for example, is heavily influence and impacted by weight, height, and position, more so than other players who may still return shades of an NBA player even if you adjust the created player’s physical attributes.
Distributing Attributes
This entire areas varies and changes depending on the type of player you want to create: you can change things up and create a hybrid player in any position (such as a rebounding PG, a point-forward, or a long-range Centre). This lists the importance of attributes for the more common position structures, from more to lease important (ie. for a Playmaking PG, you want to focus on Playmaking attributes first, and Defense/Rebounding last).
- Play-Making PG/SG:Playmaking > Shooting > Finishing > Defense/Rebounding
- Shot Creator PG/SG:Shooting > Finishing > Playmaking > Defense/Rebounding
- Slash PG:Finishing > Shooting > Defense/Rebounding > Playmaking
- Defensive Forward/Centre:Defense/Rebounding > Playmaking > Finishing > Shooting
- Shot Maker/Scoring Forward/Centre:Shooting > Defense/Rebounding > Finishing > Playmaking
- Paint Beast Forward/Centre: Defense/Rebounding > Finishing > Playmaking > Shooting
What are your thoughts on the NBA 2K22 MyPlayer Builder? Have any tips to share? Sound off in the comments below!
