NBA 2K24's Gameplay is going to be massively improved from last year's title. With ProPLAY technology, the game brings improvements to both offense and defense, a new freelance, and and improved substitution system.

The NBA 2K developers released a new blog, alongside some new videos on their X (formerly, Twitter) account that explains all the new changes. There's certainly a lot to unwrap here so we'll get right to it.

*However, many of the new changes are only available on New Consoles. Only The Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of the games utilize most of the new features and changes.

NBA 2K24 Gameplay – How Is It Different?

The blog starts off discussing the difference in ProPLAY technology and Mo-cap (Motion Capture). While Motion Capture always looked great in previous 2K titles, ProPLAY improves the authenticity even further.

ProPLAY technology essentially scans real NBA footage, translating real player movements into the game. It even captures specifically popular moves such as Kevin Durant's unique jump shot. The new tech makes the experience feel much more real. New animations brought by ProPLAY include:

  • Jumpshots
  • Dunks
  • Layups
  • Dribble Moves
  • Pass Animations
  • Signature Movement (Offense & Defense)
  • Casual Inbound Passes
  • & “Otherwise unremarkable motions”

What's New With The Offense?

NBA 2K24 brings new gameplay changes to multiple phases of the offense.

Shot Timing

Playing on Hall of Fame difficulty (or in the City or REC), makes you play with Green or Miss shot timing in the ultimate challenge. However, team-modes like Quick Play, MyNBA or MyTEAM won't be has harsh on your shot timing. This means players don't have to worrying about remembering every single player's specific release to make the shot.

Shot Timing Visual Cue replaces the Shot Timing Release Time setting from the previous installment. This converts the time-based shot-timing system to one where players can set what the release point should be (based on animation cues). Overall, it should be easier now to play as teams you've never played as before.

Layup Timing

The feature is now on by default, and it's now easier to make finishes at the rim. Additionally, other types of layups like floaters, reverses, euro, and more are also easier to perform and much more efffective.

Dunking

New Gen players can now force controllable rim hangs from any two-handed dunk. New controls also been added to allow your player to perform more flashy dunks. You can also attempt contact dunks with the dunk meter. The meter is either green or miss on higher difficulties, forcing you to be more precise.

Paint Play

Multiple new changes to the offensive paint play have also been added. This includes:

  • Branching out of any offensive rebound to a putback attempt by shooting right after the catch.
  • Post players are much more effective with post fades and hop shots
  • The strength and weight of a player means more than ever now

Dribbling

The developers released a video on dribbling where Gameplay Director Mike Wang leads us through all the new changes:

His favorite new improvement to dribbling is the are the two dribble breakdowns. Regular and Aggressive breakdowns both help you create separation between you and a defender. You can use them to create an opportunity to drive it in or make a play elsewhere.

NBA 2K24 features more dribble combos, including signature double crosses as well as hesitation crosses. Additionally, a blowout dribble (activated by tapping the sprint trigger while moving) gives the player a burst of speed.

Adrenaline Boosts

Adrenaline boosts have been reworked in NBA 2K24. Now both offenses and defenses:

  • Offensive boosts no longer go away after when performing dribble combos and moving short between short distances.
    • They do disappear when a defender bumps you in a drive attempt.
  • Losing adrenaline now heavily impacts shooting attributes instead of slowing ball-handler speed.
    • Makes it tougher to score even after you break free.

NBA 2K24 also features more in-depth controls for off-ball offensive players. They now have access to more moves like jukes and speed bursting.

NBA 2K24 Gameplay Changes To The Defense

NBA 2K24's brings multiple changes to the defense for counter moves, perimeter and paint defenses, movement, contact, and so much more.

Defensive players can move around with less sliding, with big defensive players having an easier time putting pressure on shooters to make a bad shot. Directional Steals also return, giving you more ways to stymie the offense. Of course, reaching with the wrong hand could result in a foul call, so you can't just abuse it without knowing how it works.

Finally, NBA 2K24 has a new contest logic that puts more emphasis on body weight and positioning. In an effort to address “ghost contest”, the new feature makes the coverage score line ups a bit closer. Blocking has also been adjusted and makes it a bit more challenging to perform.

Takeover Returns To NBA 2K

Takeover returns to NBA 2K24 with a big new change. Now, players can adjust their take overs “on the fly” instead of during the build phase. When a takeover meter is filled, players can pull up a menu that lets you choose between different categories:

  • Finishing
  • Shooting
  • Playmaking
  • Defense/Rebounding
  • Physicals

So say you choose shooting, then all ratings related to shooting will receive an increase. But waiting to fill up the takeover meter twice enables a Double Takeover, which grants you an extra category to boost. Unlocking Mamba Mentality boosts all of your attribute categories.

Changes To Coaching

Speaking of returning features, 2K Smart Play comes back once again. New Gen players receive an overlay showing them what play is getting called. Opting a play is simple by just pressing L1 (or LB) before you cross halfcourt. To call your preferred plays, you press the D-Pad to the left to choose from 16 different actions.

Freelance

For a much deeper experience, the dev team added a new Comp freelance. For competitive players, it gives them the ability to control all of their AI teammates. No pass or cut option exists in this freelance, and all actions are triggered by the user using their favorite 16 plays and actions from the D-Pad.

To assist players in this mode they added five new double action plays. Essentially, they're all mini-plays that help players create different combos and scoring opportunities.

  • New Give Flare actions with a hand-off leading to a flare screen
  • Give fist with a hand-off leading to a ball screen
  • Fist flare with a ball-screen leading to a flare screen
  • First screen with a ball-screen leading to an off-ball screen
  • Screen fist with an off-ball screen leading to a ball-screen.

A new motion freelance with no set form has also been added. Its design os to create scoring options for players who aren't too familiar with the playbooks. This freelance runs actions based on your best players on the court. So users now won't have to call anything in motion to see their best players perform necessary actions.

The new freelance can also be updated through our roster updates too.

Substitutions

NBA 2K24's new substitution engine prevents the AI from just subbing all five starters out. Now the AI ensures the starters are in the game for the appropriate amount of times, without taking away all their talented players at once.

The new system supports 6th man lineups for teams with a bench player. It now replicates “situations where teams have a closing lineup that is different from the starting one.”

Now it should be more of a challenge to re-take the lead in a game due to the AI keeping some of their talented players in at all times. It seems realism is coming to both the movements and the actual gameplay as well.

NBA 2K24 Release Date

In other news, the NBA 2K24 team released a new gameplay trailer earlier this week, showing off the new ProPLAY technology. This week's gameplay announcements are the first of many for the game throughout the month of August. We're also excited to see the new additions to the streamlined MyCAREER mode.

NBA 2K24's comes out on September 8th, 2023. It's available for pre-order for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

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