Every year, NBA 2K releases and it seemingly flies off the shelves, unlike most other sports games. Whether its online play, MyCareer, or MyTeam, players are finding ways to engage with the game day in and day out.
The MyTeam mode allows players to build a team of their favorite NBA greats providing they either commit money or time to the mode. There's an argument to be made that it's the game's most well-rounded mode for all types of players. Let's look at 5 reasons MyTeam is NBA 2K20's best mode and 5 why it isn't.
10 Not: Lacking Players
Collectible card modes in sports games have a tough job where they have to create cards that are enticing enough for players to chase after or spend money to try and pull, while at the same time-saving something new and exciting for the following week. As time goes on the mode has more and more great player cards that people want and feels a lot more filled out by the beginning of the new year. If you play near the launch of the game you have to simply work with what's available and hope your favorite missing players are added eventually.
9 Best: Variety
In MyTeam players have a ton of different options in both the modes they can play and the formats they like best. It features both normal 5 vs. 5 NBA basketball on real courts inside actual arenas but also has modes where players can take a team of 3 and face off against real and computer opponents on the blacktop in authentic street basketball action. There are plenty of challenges to accomplish, players, to acquire, and difficulties to overcome which provide the player with dozens of hours of gameplay.
8 Not: Irrelevant In A Year
The argument that's often leveraged against annual sports franchises is that they're simply $60 roster updates that fans have gotten scammed into buying every year. Now, though that statement is only partially true, it does bring into question the relevancy of online modes that require constant updates. Every time a new entry in a sports game releases, fans of the collector modes know the updates are numbered. The publishers want to make money so their focus will be on having players start from scratch and build up their roster once again.
7 Best: Mix & Match
Fans of the NBA always have conversations about how older players would mesh with today's 3-point centric game where the death of the traditional center is a reality. Have you ever wondered how Steve Nash and Anthony Davis would play together? What about Ben Wallace and Rudy Gobert? The MyTeam mode lets players earn a variety of player cards both new and old and figure out which combination feels right for them. They can take all of those dream team-ups and see if they'd work.
6 Not: Not As Deep
Is MyTeam deep in terms of the number of different challenges and game styles? Yes, of course, it is. The big weakness for it though is that the games are often shorter in length which means that players don't have to focus on putting an entire cohesive roster together.
Most of the time you can get by with your starting 5 and rarely have to worry about the minutes you allocate to each player. Unlike the MyCareer or franchise modes, a lot of the roster stuff only asks you to be surface level with your knowledge or commitment.
5 Best: Hop In, Hop Out
Some people may argue that MyTeam is a mode that only feels rewarding if you play it numerous times throughout the week. The real truth is that because players are building fantasy teams it doesn't require you to hop back in and relearn a ton of things. The solo challenges and games are shorter in length and don't require a full rotation of players and/or substitutions which means there are only 5 players you have to worry about. There's also no pressure on winning or losing. Simply move on to the next thing.
4 Not: Contracts
Madden 20 has a model similar to MyTeam called Madden Ultimate Team and they decided to take out contracts a couple of years ago. It seems that it may be in the best interest of NBA 2K20 to look at doing the same thing. All it does is cause a weird mini management game within the mode where players have to allocate contract cards and it takes away from focusing on just hopping on the court. They also aren't the cheapest thing and it can feel defeating to have to spend your earned currency on contracts instead of player cards.
3 Best: Customization
The experiences that tend to have the longest legs are usually the ones in which the player feels unique ownership over the customization of their character or game. With MyTeam players not only can customize and works towards the specific roster they want to build, but they can earn the ability to make a custom team by collecting cards.
Once you reach an easily feasible collector tier you can design and customize your jerseys, arena, and logo which takes the feeling of a custom experience to the next level.
2 Not: Pay-To-Win
Game modes that rely on chance for the player to see progress can be frustrating, especially when the acquisition of in-game currency takes longer to grind. Over the last few years, NBA 2K as a series has taken some real hear for not only implemented several gross microtransactions in their games, but also for supposedly marketing those things towards a demographic that ranges pretty young. The reward of grinding to get good players is there, but it's disheartening when you realize spending some cash could get you there quicker.
1 Best: Replayability
Since you can change out your roster and mix and match to create teams with a unique play style and identity MyTeam has a lot of replayability built-in. Also since it provides players with the ability to have multiple rosters pre-created it's super easy to jump back and forth between them depending on the upcoming matchup. Since many of the cards range in overall as well as classic versus current NBA players there are tons of ways to combine different eras of players to see what works best for you