NBA 2K27 is poised to be one of the better games of the series in recent memory.
2K Games recently hosted its annual Community Day a week before the early access release of NBA 2K27, where journalists, content creators and influencers all gathered to test out the 28th installment of the iconic basketball video game series.
The NBA 2K27 Community Day was hosted this time around at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California, the perfect setting for the newest game considering the spectacle of the arena and when factoring in that 2K Games' global headquarters is in California.
There were a number of impressive features on display for the game — it wasn't available in full mode — but quick play featuring all 30 NBA teams and 15 WNBA squads along with a demo version of MyPlayer and MyCareer were available for us testers.
NBA stars such as Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton, Stephon Castle and Chet Holmgren made appearances at NBA 2K27 Community Day, talking about the newest game with the media and how they're looking forward to the latest release in the series.
Here are the main takeaways from the newest version of NBA, with polished gameplay standing out the most from the early access of the game.
The Gameplay is Actually Realistic
One of the main gripes people have had of the NBA 2K series in recent years is the lack of overall quality gameplay. While this issue has largely been fixed since NBA 2K25 was released, it took a bit of a step back last season with offensive gameplay being too easy and it feeling almost impossible to guard defensively, especially on isolation plays.
A lot of that was attributed to the high-scoring nature of today's NBA where the best teams average 120 points per game. Thankfully, this was cleaned up for NBA 2K27 where playing both offense and defense feels enjoyable. Most importantly, you don't feel as if you're doomed on isolation plays and if you have the proper timing and skill of the joy stick, you should be able to match up — even against the best offensive players in the league.
New Features on Offense and Defense
NBA 2K27 has made a concerted effort to balance it out on both offense and defense, as noted before. On offense, there's a dynamic layup engine addition and expanded dribbling customizations.
Similar to what EA Sports once did with the Madden NFL series in Madden 04 and Madden 05 — by introducing the Playmaker and Hit Sticks to boost offense and defense — the 2K team has done something similar with a redesigned hands-up defensive feature, an overhauled shot contest system and a new collision system.
With the exception of NBA 2K25, the gameplay has felt either disjointed or too one-sided in recent years — that is no longer the case for this year's game, which means 2K took care of the most important feature.
Expanded MyCareer Mode and First Co-Ed City
There are multiple added features to this year's game, but some of the more notable ones are the expanded MyCareer mode and the First Co-Ed City mode.
The new MyCareer Mode will see five playable eras, spanning from the Magic vs. Bird era (1984) all the way to the Stephen Curry era (2016). The new expansive cinematic story — titled "Fire and Concrete" — features 11 chapters, which is double the length of last year's story and features rapper and actor Vince Staples.
The first-ever Co-Ed City mode will allow male and female MYPLAYERS to compete for the first time.
Chet Holmgren, Tyrese Haliburton and Stephon Castle Talk NBA 2K27
As usual, one of the biggest topics among the NBA stars were their ratings for the game.
For example, Holmgren's rating slipped from an 88 to an 86 for this year's game, a topic that was brought up at NBA 2K27 Community Day.
"Yeah, I mean, I saw it at the end of the day. You know, whatever they put it at, it's up to you whether it goes up and down," Holmgren said. "So I definitely think that 2K did some rate hikes, I guess, to stop inflation. So they brought a lot of the average overall down, it definitely came down a lot. So, you know, at the end of the day, you're always trying to get your rating up."
Meanwhile, Castle was happy with his 87 rating after a breakthrough season that saw him lead the San Antonio Spurs to the NBA Finals with cover star Victor Wembanyama.
Prediction market apps such as Kalshi listed event contracts on who would be featured on the video game's cover. Those who purchased Wemby contracts came out on top, with the market seeing over $1.1 million in trading volume. If you want to trade on other markets related to NBA 2K27, check out the Kalshi promo code today.
“I like my rating,” Castle said. “I think 87 overall in Year 3 is pretty good.”
Meanwhile, Haliburton picked his dream era — while introducing the new myCAREER Eras mode — as being during the 2010s when LeBron James' Big Three Miami Heat dominated the league with four straight Finals appearances.
Brown — who is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers with LeBron James — is now featured on what will likely be the most-played team in NBA 2K27. He is flanked by former NBA MVP Joel Embiid, All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey and rising second-year guard V.J. Edgecombe.
The 29-year-old Brown said he would love to one day be on the cover of an NBA 2K video game. However, he wasn't a fan of his rating going down from last year's game (93 rating) to this year's game (91 rating).
"The mid-range is probably a little low," Brown opined. "I'm a mid-range spammer. I feel offended." (smiling). "I think my passing should be a lot better… 93 {overall rating} last year, so how did I go down?"
