NBA 2K has become a powerhouse in the gaming community. So much so that the best online sportsbooks offer betting odds on the tournaments. That said, there are some seriously high expectations for NBA 2K19 and the upcoming season with four new teams added to the mix. These expectations go beyond just the standard game-play issues, like how tired people are of all of the clipping, and move into the realm of the off-line player suite, private match-making, and even community management.
Overall, it seems that the 2K crew has done a fine job of cleaning up a lot of the main gripes that people had about 2K18. And on an entertainment level, Bill Simmons joins the 2K family, lending his voice as a commentator along with Kevin Harlan.
Gameplay Changes
Motion System Adjustments – NBA 2K19 is trying to amend the motion system that was released in 2K18. It was just too easy to breeze past even the most elite of defenders. The automated contest system is gone, but on the attack, skills with the stick are going to come much more heavily into play.
Stealing & Defense – Let’s be honest, stealing has always kind of sucked in NBA 2K. The developers have changed the stealing algorithms to help assess a ball handler’s susceptibility through a ‘zone system’. Furthermore, defenders using angles and good timing on their reach should be rewarded.
This will also make playing in the paint a bit harder. The bigs will be looking to swat the ball out of your hands when driving through traffic. But on the bright side for ball-handling showboats, players shouldn’t miss as many layups in the newest iteration of the game. The ‘hit detection’ algorithms have also been improved, so you should have a much smaller chance of missing a layup if you drive through the paint cleanly.
Shot Meters – Speaking of layups, a shot meter has been worked in so that layups are affected by a players timing similarly to jump shots. This will help to eliminate the apparent randomness of 2K layups further.
Clipping Has Been Addressed – The way collisions are handled in the game is arguably the biggest gripe that 2K fans have. There should be a significantly less amount of clipping in 2K19.
New Badge System ‘Hot Meter’ & Take-Over Moments – When you get on a roll, your player will have the chance to unlock archetypical special abilities. For example, Kyrie Irving might be able to execute some new ankle-breaking ball-handling moves, DeAndre Jordan could get some monster blocking abilities, and Steph could get some, ‘He’s on fire!’ NBA Jam-type sharp-shooting skills.
NBA 2K League has Expanded
According to NBA2KL’s official site, the basics of the expansion taking place this 2019 season goes as follows.
Four new teams are being added to the league, but the original 17 teams have to put a franchise tag on at least two players, so they are not eligible to be drafted by any of the expansion teams (the expansion draft took place on September 26th). The first trade period will run from September 27th to October 10th. The second trade period is yet to be determined. However, it will take place during the 2019 season. All trades are 1 to 1. So teams can’t get fancy by trading two players for one or create multiple player multi-team deals, etc.
New Teams
- Nets Gaming (Brooklyn Nets)
- Hawks Talin GC (Atlanta Hawks)
- Lakers Gaming (LA Lakers)
- T-Wolves Gaming (Minnesota Timberwolves)
Hawks Talon GC had the No. 1 pick in the draft and picked up Dat Boy Shots from Blazer5 Gaming. The Nets grabbed NateKahl from Knicks Gaming with their first pick. Center, oLarry was taken in the first round by T-Wolves Gaming, and Lakers Gaming picked up PF, Mooty from Kings Guard Gaming.
You can keep up to date with the new rosters at the 2019 NBA 2K League Rosters Wiki Page.
