NBA 2K27 Is Less Than The Sum of Its Parts (Review)

NBA 2K27 is brimming with potential. The team at 2K Sports has gone through every mode and introduced compelling changes that could make a massive difference from last year’s relatively lackluster effort. They’ve added often-requested updates in MyNBA, given players new ways to progress in MyTeam, and even added co-op and Eras to MyPlayer. Despite all the progress made on paper, this year’s version is as frustrating and disappointing as the series has been for the last several years.

You can see a great game when looking through the bullet list of updates, but legacy issues and new problems make 2K27 feel like 2K is back to spinning its wheels. Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few net positives, but for every step forward, 2K27 decides to take two steps back. It’s a frustrating mess with a hefty dose of microtransactions.

Review Score: 3/5

Pros:	Cons:
MyNBA’s Legacy Mode is a boon for dedicated hoopers.	MyPlayer is a slog that makes you play in ways that don’t always fit your character.
Changes to The Exchange have big potential in MyTeam.	Inconsistent AI leads to weird on-court situations.
Moment-to-moment gameplay continues to be a strength.	There are so many microtransactions.

Without A Trace

One of the biggest additions to NBA 2K27 is the new co-op mode in MyPlayer, Fire & Concrete. For the first time, you can team up with your buddy to take on the NBA across a long-running career. You play as your created player, while your friend takes on the role of Trace Miller. It is, without a doubt, a neat way to encourage players to team up in one of 2K’s flagship modes, but the developers decided Trace needs to be involved in the story even if you’re playing on your own.

That might not sound like a problem, but it quickly becomes frustrating. During most games, you’re given goals that require you to make sure Trace is also putting up numbers. Even if you’re a shoot-first guard with low passing stats, you’ll need to set your teammate up or risk tanking your grade. It’s a confusing choice because MyPlayer is traditionally all about playing your way. Sure, you want to be a good teammate, but force-feeding a random guy isn’t exactly fun, and, as mentioned, might not even fit your player archetype.

If you could turn Trace off, it wouldn’t be a problem, but he follows you all the way to the Hall of Fame. It can also make it difficult to play alongside your favorite NBA superstars. For example, if you make Trace a point guard, he’ll push players like Cade Cunningham out of the starting lineup. I don’t know about you, but my basketball fantasy is to play with my favorite real-life stars, not some random guy named Trace.

The frustrations in MyPlayer don’t end there. 2K has also added Eras to the mode, letting you dip into one of the fire Eras they’ve added to MyNBA over the last few years. You can join Larry Bird’s Celtics or Shaq’s Lakers and try to build the dynasty alongside them. It sounds great in theory, but it almost instantly falls apart.

Your first annoyance will come when you realize that your Fire & Concrete character’s build does not carry over. If you spent hard-earned Virtual Currency leveling that character up and want to drop him onto Jordan’s Bulls in the Eras mode, you’ll discover that’s impossible. The two characters might look the same, but you’ll need to grind out VC for both if you want them to play the same.

Granted, 2K does make it slightly easier to earn VC through gameplay this year, but having to re-grind VC is a chore that’s going to sour most players. It doesn’t end there, either. NBA 2K27‘s on-court AI has been a bit wonky for a few years now. The CPU likes to stand around and waste time, usually looking more like a rec league than the NBA, but it’s even worse in Eras.

Players from previous decades make so many baffling decisions. You’ll see Pistons-era Ben Wallace randomly decide to jack up threes, or play an entire game against Shaquille O’Neal where he refuses to go into the paint. It’s not every game, but after a few dozen matchups, you’ll start to notice that 2K’s AI is starting to break down on its own.

That’s a shame because when you’re in control of the on-court action, 2K27 is pretty solid. It’s early days, but shooting seems to have found a sweet spot after years of flipping between too easy and almost impossible for casual players. Defense has some real impact, especially on the perimeter. You’ll still see players getting their ankles snatched, but skillful defenders can better stay in front of their man. It’s not perfect. There are still some weird collisions and balls that seemingly warp through your body into the post, but the on-court product is on par with what 2K players expect.

The Big Exchange

Ever since 2K took away the Auction House, MyTeam has been in a weird spot. Obviously, they quickly brought it back after players spent a year complaining, but 2K has seemingly spent its time focusing on other modes over the last few years. That said, 2K27 has one major change to MyTeam that has some potential.

The Exchange has been in the mode for years, but has often been an afterthought. Sure, some events gave you good ways to trade up for better players, but The Exchange has rarely been the place to get top-end players. That all changes this year. At least, that’s how it seems during Season 1.

Obviously, things can change quickly in MyTeam, but this year you can exchange any card you earn for better cards. For the most part, the best cards you can currently earn in MyTeam are found in The Exchange, which makes it more important than ever. That’ll likely change as we get more card drops, but knowing you can take the low-rated players you’ve and turn them into top-tier players is a welcome change for the mode.

2K27 also adds a new Player XP system for MyTeam. This lets you take your favorite players and boost their stats. It adds a sense of constant progression that makes it a little easier to resist the siren call of the Pack Market.

Don’t get me wrong, 2K would still love it if you spent VC on new packs, and the developers will almost certainly start dropping top-end players in packs very soon. Plus, Season Pass progression still feels agonizingly slow, which seems to be designed to entice you to spend money on level skips. Still, MyTeam has a few things going in its favor that it didn’t have the last few years.

Legacy Mode Could Be A Game-Changer

MyNBA has gotten several often-requested features. That includes four-team trades and the reintroduction of stashing international prospects. They’ve also added the new 3-2-1 draft lottery and updated the playoff series formats. However, the big new addition to the mode is MyNBA Legacy.

This player-locked mode lets you hop into the shoes of your favorite NBA star. You’ll play out their entire career, and then pass on their traits to their son, building your own 100-year, multi-generational dynasty. You’ll earn upgrades along the way, helping give your progeny a leg-up on the competition.

At this point, I’m only a few years into my own dynasty, but it has me hooked. I can’t wait to see what Cade Cunningham V gets up to in 2100. If you’re looking for a reason to play 2K all year but don’t want to jump into the more competitive mode, you finally have something to do besides starting up new rebuilds.

It’s a neat addition that I’m incredibly excited to continue throughout the year; however, I can’t help but feel like 2K is churning water while looking for the next evolution of Eras in MyNBA. Of course, there’s only so much you can do with a yearly development cycle, but not merging Legacy mode with Eras is a strange choice. Why haven’t we gone back into the ’70s for a new Era?

There is so much history in basketball, and it feels like 2K is barely scratching the surface. Just look at how beloved the Negroe Leagues Storyline mode is in MLB The Show. 2K has shown it can make cinematic modes in the past, and it’s beyond time that they find a way to use Eras more effectively.

That’s the bottom line of NBA 2K27. It has plenty of good ideas, but doesn’t go far enough to really make them shine as they should. Of course, it doesn’t help that long-running issues and ever-present microtransactions continue to weigh things down. You couldn’t honestly call 2K27 a money-grab because of how many new twists the developers have added, but it feels like 2K has done just enough to bring players back, hoping they’ll continue to spend money on the flagship modes and not notice Dennis Rodman standing in the corner, jacking up airballs from deep.

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NBA 2K27 is set to have its global launch later this week on September 4th, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. An advance copy of the game was provided by 2K for the purpose of this review.