‘NBA 2K26’ review: Fun, at a cost

There’s a major theme to sports games being released in 2026 as developers contest with the realization that their player base is wildly fractured. There are the deeply hardcore, year-in-year-out players who might invest 90% of their gaming time into one sports game — and casual players who drop in when the season begins to be hyped for their favorite sport, picking it up once more as we approach the playoffs.

This issue has been tackled in a variety of ways, with the majority skewing more towards catering to its broader group of more casual players, leaving the competitive side largely untouched. This isn’t the case for NBA 2K26, which throws itself entirely at its online players, asking everyone else to adapt. I’ll admit I disliked this at first, but after dozens of games and ample experience with this year’s game — it’s kind of brilliant.

It’s important to note that the experience being discussed here is the base level, “I just booted this up” game. 2K26, like the majority of sports titles in the modern era, offer a plethora of gameplay sliders to tweak the experience exactly to your liking. There’s no shortage of Reddit threads and third party sites offering their own brand of sliders catering from intense sim players to the arcade-minded, but it’s worth at least trying to get used to the experience out of the box.

NBA 2K26 plays much quicker than it’s predecessors, and it’s an inherently less realistic game as a result. Stopping well short of being “arcadey,” there’s still a distinct emphasis placed on moving the ball downcourt quickly, breaking ankles on a dime, and making shots much easier to hit. There’s a revamped shot meter in 2K26 which is vastly improved over last year’s model. It still rewards learning different jump shot styles and release points, but these release points are much more forgiving than in the past. As a result you’re not going to be bricking 15 wide open threes a game with Steph Curry, provided you have a modicum of timing — which honestly feels great.

There’s a joy that comes with a shot dropping that should drop if you’re watching an NBA game on TV. Whether it’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carving through the lane for an off-balanced layup, or Nikola Jokic drilling a stepback two — the biggest factor in success in 2K26 is less about getting really, really good at shooting, and more about playing the way NBA players actually do in specific moments.

The badges from 2K25 return, but feel far more impactful in 2K26. There is a very distinct difference in Curry’s “shifty shooter” badge, which increases his chance to hit threes off the dribble or high-difficulty shots, and someone like Aaron Nesmith of the Pacers, who really can’t create exceptionally well on the perimeter, but is lights out with his gold in “set shot specialist,” boosting his likelihood to hit threes when his feet are set.

It’s not simply about how two badges compare to each other, but the tapestry of different badges across players and teams. It this that makes the 2K series the king when it comes to replicating professional players in a game. Look no further than the suite of abilities Anthony Edwards has (95 overall) and it’s a laundry list of things he does in actual games:

These all come together to make Ant one of the best athletic interior players in the NBA with a mix of style and physicality, just like he displays on the court.

One of the biggest gripes in past iterations of 2K has been player movement and a lack of agency because of it. Too often it’s felt like players were locked into canned animations, with some branch points along the way. This was fine when it came of shooting and layups, but the most basic act of moving around the court often felt like it had far too much weight and momentum, making even the more agile players feel like they were running through quicksand.

Off ball movement has been drastically improved in 2K26, making it both fun and tactically viable to weave through defenders before calling for an inbounds pass — or streak to the corner for a three without feeling like it was too risky and you’d run out of bounds. Movement is much snappier than in the past, requiring less of a move-stop-receive ball flow, better allowing you to catch and shoot on the move, or set up plays.

It’s a very difficult element to fully explain until you feel it. Everything just feels smoother, snappier, and more enjoyable. This also allows for smaller, shifty players to have more of a tangible difference to the pacing of the game beyond just having the handles to break someone down on ISO. This is paired with dramatically overhauled teammate AI when playing solo. Instead of standing stock in their position waiting for you to call a play, your teammates will now make moves autonomously. Big men will break towards the basket looking for a pass, sharpshooting wings will shake their man trying to find their favored shooting spots, and athletic thee-level scorers will move constantly, becoming a headache for their opponents and sapping their stamina.

I’m not sure there’s ever been an NBA video game that felt quite as good as NBA 2K26.

The integration of the WNBA has been realized in the past, but expanded even further in 2K26. There’s now a fully fleshed out, independent WNBA career mode that’s focused more uniquely on making it in the W, as well as having dedicated journalists on social media that are tailored to the WNBA, rather than recycling the same for the NBA.

Player models are better realized too, with WNBA players having better proportions than past iterations of the game.

This is also the first time WNBA players have been incorporated into MyTeam. This means that you can form an All Star lineup of players from both leagues, having them work seamlessly together in a way that adds a new level to the experience and more uniqueness to matchups online.

What happened to halftime?

While there are definitely improvements on the presentation side when it comes to the uniqueness of each arena, one area that is truly nonsensical is the barebones halftime show presentation. Gone is the Inside the NBA crew hosting a faux halftime show, which is fine — but nothing compelling has been put in its place. It’s a bit of a shame to pivot right from a game to clips of first half highlights without and commentary over them, or much in its place.

At least there’s Hugo riding a tiny motorcycle.

Wholesale changes to the pacing and play of NBA 2K26 make it feel unique compared to past iterations. The emphasis pays off, and makes for a more enjoyable, less frustrating experience. At times this causes the game to feel too easy for it’s own good when playing offline, but that is something that can be tweaked through difficulty sliders.

The biggest improvement to the off-ball movement and player pathing makes this the smoothest, most organic feeling entry in the series in years. Of all the sports games I’ve played this year it’s 2K26 that makes me want to come back for more, time and time again — which isn’t something I can say about past iterations in the series.

A course correction of sorts, a leap forward in others, NBA 2K26 feels like a building block towards making a legendary entry in the series — assuming there are some more tweaks to presentation in the future.