With the release date of NBA 2K25 approaching rapidly, gamers are eager to learn more about how to optimize their time on the title. There are plenty of ways to excel on the virtual court, but the usage of badges is one of the best methods to get the best out your players in-game and take their performances to the next level.
Similar to previous iterations of the legendary basketball simulation series, there will be plenty of builds to choose from in every position. Each of these builds have their own set of badges that are best suited to their roles in NBA 2K25. This article delves into the details of the most useful ones.
Best badges for every build in NBA 2K25
There are 40 skill badges for you to choose from in NBA 2K25 MyPlayer. They are divided into two tiers based on your athlete's height, with Tier 1 being the most effective but more challenging to develop compared to the Tier 2 ones.
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Here are all the badges and their categories in NBA 2K25:
Inside Scoring
- Aerial Wizard: Increases the player's alley-oop ability or their ability to perform a putback finish following a rebound.
- Float Game: Improves the player's ability to perform floaters.
- Hook Specialist: Improves the player's ability to make post-hooks.
- Layup Mixmaster: Improves the ability to perform fancy or acrobatic layups.
- Paint Prodigy: Improves the ability to score while in the paint quickly.
- Phyiscal Finisher: Improves the players ability to perform better during physical contact and to convert contact layups.
- Post Fade Phenom: Player performs better post fades and hop shots.
- Post Powerhouse: Player backs down defenders better and moves them with dropsteps.
- Post-Up Poet: Better chances of faking or getting past defenders and scoring while performing moves in the post.
- Posterizer: Increases the chances of dunking on the defender.
- Rise Up: Better chances of dunking or posterizing the defender when in the paint.
Rebounding
- Boxout Beast: Better ability to box out and challenge for a good rebounding position.
- Rebound Chaser: Player can chase rebounds from farther distances.
Defense
- Challenger: Contests for the ball against perimeter shooters are more effective.
- Glove: Increases the player's ability to steal the ball and strip layup attempts successfully.
- High Flying denier: Increases the speed and leaping ability of the defender to block shots.
- Immovable Enforcer: The player has higher strength when defending against the ball handler and finishers coming straight at them.
- Interceptor: Increases the frequency of tipped or intercepted passes.
- Off-Ball pest: Players can grab and hold their matchup, making it difficult to get past them off the ball.
- On-Ball menace: Bodies up against the opponent when defending the perimeter.
- Paint Patroller: Player blocks and contests shots at the rim more effectively.
- Pick Dodger: The player navigates through and around screens more effectively on defense.
- Post Lockdown: Improves a player's ability to defend moves on the post and increases their chances of stripping the opponent.
General Offense
- Brick Wall: More effective screens and drains the opponent's energy on physical contact.
- Slippery Off-Ball: The player is better at navigating through defenders when attempting to get open off screens.
All Around
- Pogo Stick: The player recovers quickly and can jump again after landing. This can be during both offensive and defensive scenarios.
Outside Scoring
- Deadeye: Jump Shots taken with a defender closing out receive a lesser penalty from the shot contest.
- Limitless Range: Extends the range from which the player can shoot three-pointers.
- Mini Marksman: The player can make better shots over tall defenders.
- Set Shot specialist: Better chances of knocking down stand-still jumpshots.
- Shifty Shooter: The player can perform high difficulty jump shots off the dribble more effectively.
PlayMaking
- Ankle Assassin: The player is better at breaking down and crossing up defenders.
- Bail Out: Passing out from a jump Shot or layup has a lower chance of an error. It also boosts the player's ability to pass out of double team situations.
- Break Starter: Passess made up the court from range are better after grabbing a defensive rebound, provided that the pass is made quickly.
- Dimer: Passes by these players to shooters when in the half-court yields a boost to their shooting.
- Handles for Days: Players can chain dribbling combos quicker and for extended periods without taking much of a toll on their energy.
- Lightning Launch: Faster launches when attacking from the perimeter.
- Strong Handle: The player is not bothered by defenders as much while dribbling.
- Unpluckable: Defenders will find it harder to poke the ball free when trying to steal.
- Versatile visionary: The player can thread tight passes, including alley-oops, quicker and on time.
Here are the best badges for each NBA 2K25 build:
- NBA 2K25 Point Guard (PG) build: Slippery Off Ball, Lightning Launch, Handles for Days, Shifty Shooter, Posterizer.
- NBA 2K25 Center build: Rebound Chaser, Boxout Beast, Brick Wall, Post Lockdown, Set Shot Specialist, High Flying Denier.
- NBA 2K25 Small Forward (SF) build: Mini Marksman
- NBA 2K25 Power Forward (PF) build: Posterizer, Rebound Chaser, Paint Patroller.
- NBA 2K25 Shooting Guard (SG) build: Lightning Launch, Posterizer.
All these badges will greatly boost your MyPLayer's ability on the virtual court in the latest title.
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