Posted in: 2K Games, Games, NBA, NBA 2K, Video Games | Tagged: nba, NBA 2K26

NBA 2K26 Releases New Details & Video About Gameplay

NBA 2K26 dropped a new Courtside Report this week, along with a video, detailing all of the changes coming to the gameplay

2K Games have released a new video this morning for NBA 2K26 this morning, as they go more in-depth over what's new to the gameplay of this year's edition. The team is boasting about their ProPLAY system, which has been designed to offer the most authentic experience possible for a video game when it comes to basketball and live-action, as you're getting an authentic experience that will focus on skill-based systems. As well as a better Motion Engine, enhanced Rhythm Shooting, new Offense controls, and more. You can check out the new dev notes below, as well as the video hea featuring Game Director Mike Wang and Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton going over everything new. The game will be released on September 5, 2025.

NBA 2K26 – Gameplay Improvements

• All-New Dynamic Motion Engine: Leveraging machine-learning technology, ProPLAY powers an all-new Motion Engine in NBA 2K26, making actions feel more lifelike and realistic across all on-court movement. Dynamic lower-body pose matching adjusts the exact positioning of players' legs and feet on the fly and ensures they launch, plant and cut realistically. The new Motion Engine is the biggest change to player movement since NBA 2K21 offering a fresh and authentic feeling.
• Enhanced Rhythm Shooting: Enhanced Rhythm Shooting in NBA 2K26 gives players full control over every aspect of the shot. Players who take advantage of the Rhythm Shooting mechanic will experience more responsive jumpshots that resemble true lifelike shooting motions. With these improvements to Rhythm Shooting, NBA 2K26 features a more skill-based environment that blends authenticity with competition for a more rewarding experience.
• Authentic Offense: Just like in the modern NBA, big men will be able to leverage all-new Signature Go-To Post Shots, including shimmy floaters and up-and-unders. Players can also now mix and match advanced layup styles from their favorite athletes around the league to create their own custom layup packages. To emphasize skill-based gameplay on higher difficulty levels, Green or Miss Shot Timing will be universal while Layup Timing is permanently enabled.
• Defensive Improvements: Improvements to defense include new body-ups and collisions, redesigned Interior Defense and new Rebound Timing Feedback. System-driven technology, powered by ProPLAY, generates player-to-player collisions that are more reliable than previous motion-captured animations. This, plus new dynamic motion, brings fresh freedom to the movements of both dribblers and on-ball defenders. Meanwhile, Interior Defense has been redesigned to make it easier to put a body on shooters when they're finishing around the rim and make body-to-body contact in the air.
• New and Revamped Controls: New and revamped controls provide a more intuitive, deliberate, and free-flowing gameplay experience. Overall game speed rewards players with fast decision-making and quicker reaction times. Additional improvements and features include a Quick Protect mechanic so ball handlers can shield themselves from steals, no-dip catch-and-shoots, slow motion Eurosteps, dedicated controls for wrap passes, randomized button selections when attempting alley-oops on higher difficulties and directional screen setting.
• AI & Coaching: Enhanced AI adapts strategically to a player's every move on both sides of the ball. A new intelligence module enables offensive AI to actively look for scoring opportunities through drive-and-kick plays to generate offense outside of standard plays. Other defensive improvements and additions include enhanced double team defensive logic, improved AI defenders logic, expanded playbooks, AI difficulty improvements and AI Shot Timing Ability in Play Now and MyNBA, allowing players to separately adjust how skilled AIs are at timing jumpshots and layups.
• Learn 2K: NBA 2K26 offers new Intermediate Tutorials that bridge the gap between our existing tutorials and drills for fundamental and advanced techniques and offers the ability to learn more about different types of layups, dunks, pick-and-rolls, and more.

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