NLSC Your source for basketball video games.

The preview season for NBA 2K26 is officially underway! Although we’re likely at least a few weeks away from in-depth previews and developer insights, we do have some early information on NBA 2K26 from the cover players and pre-order bonuses for all of the editions, to the release date and information about features such as crossplay, cross-gen progression, and so on. A few First Look screenshots have also been released, along with an announce trailer.

First of all, NBA 2K26 will be released globally on September 5th, 2025. Four editions are available: the Standard Edition featuring Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the cover, the Superstar Edition with Carmelo Anthony on the cover, the WNBA Edition featuring Angel Reese on the cover, and the Leave No Doubt Edition featuring all three NBA 2K26 cover players together. All four editions are already available to pre-order.

Obviously, there are still many details that will be revealed during the course of the preview season. However, the Steam Store page includes a preliminary features list that mentions ProPLAY, an all-new MyCAREER journey in a streamlined City, collecting past and present players in MyTEAM, a deep franchise experience in MyNBA, and unique storylines in MyGM. It’s fairly generic as you’d expect, but it confirms the presence of staple modes and features.

Interestingly, the pre-order bonuses aren’t as generous as previous years, with the Standard Edition and WNBA Edition only offering 10,000 VC if you pre-order. The game will be available on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch, and the Nintendo Switch 2. The ninth gen consoles will have cross-play, MyTEAM will have cross-gen progression once again, and as usual the VC wallet will be shared between consoles in the same family.

A summary of what we know so far can be found below. Check it out, along with the First Look screenshots, cover art, and announce trailer for NBA 2K26! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion in our newly-opened NBA 2K26 Forum. I’ve also created a page for NBA 2K26 here in our Wiki, and as always, any help in keeping it up to date would be most appreciated. Stay tuned for more news and previews in the coming weeks!

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m going back to tinker with an old roster for NBA Live 96 PC to place MJ on the Wizards.

Although I’ve gone on to create a “Definitive” roster for NBA Live 96 PC that adds proper 1996 season rosters, the last current roster I made for the game was for the 2001 campaign. I dubbed that project a “Complete Update“, which was overselling it a little, but it did include portrait and logo updates; a rarity for NBA Live 96 rosters. Thanks to the contributions of Bobby H, it even included an updated gold Wizards wordmark for the team’s roster screen! I intended it to be my farewell to modding NBA Live 96 PC, and indeed I moved on to NBA Live 99 shortly afterwards.

While I’ve created a couple of other NBA Live 96 mods and even polished up the Complete Update, I never went back to make a 2002 season roster. As such, I’ve never created an NBA Live 96 roster featuring Michael Jordan on the Wizards! In fact, to my recollection, I’ve never done that as a quick modification for NBA Live 96; not even just to get a screenshot. With that in mind, it sounds like a fun retro gaming and modding exercise, perfect for Wayback Wednesday! I obviously have some assets to work with here, so let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #587 of the NLSC Podcast!

Not long after we finished recording last week’s show, EA Sports surprised us with the announcement that they will be returning to the virtual hardwood with a new college basketball game, slated for release in 2028 at the earliest! This week, we join the community in sharing our reactions to the news, from rating our excitement level to discussing the things that we want and need to see in a new hoops title from EA. We also touch on 2K’s somewhat petty reaction to EA’s announcement, and the response it drew on social media. Suffice it to say that things are set to be a lot more interesting in the basketball gaming space over the next few years!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:00:21 — 41.8MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

We continue to see some great new mod releases for NBA Live 2005 from Modders27, with the latest being a face update for Julius Randle. Check it out at the link below!

Modders27
Julius Randle Face By Modders27

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on the way that 2K responded with pettiness to the announcement of a new college basketball game from EA Sports.

Last week, EA Sports surprised a lot of gamers with the announcement of a new college basketball title, tentatively scheduled for release in 2028. There have been some questions as to why the announcement is being made so far out. It appears that the Collegiate Licensing Company entertained bids for a new basketball game in late June, with EA Sports’ bid being successful. A three year development window would be similar to the return of EA Sports College Football, which was announced in 2021 and released in 2024. Presumably, pre-production on this new hoops title has begun.

Needless to say, while not everyone is optimistic about a new college basketball game from EA Sports – understandably so – many gamers are excited. It’ll be a new release from an established company, in a genre that’s suffered from a lack of alternatives and competition. To that point, how did 2K respond to EA Sports rejoining the basketball gaming space with a college game? In short, a quote reply to a post on X opining that they should be the ones making the game wryly saying “the campus has been quiet for too long”, and a statement in which they referred to themselves as the “undisputed home of basketball gaming”. Basically, 2K is giving pettiness the old college try.

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Today’s NBA 2K25 mod releases feature another LeBron Era court update from texacali, this time for the Boston Celtics! Download it at the link below.

texacali
Boston Celtics LeBron Era Court

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.

The NLSC Top 10 Plays is always a spectacular countdown of virtual hardwood highlights, but the players are getting particularly fancy this week! That includes an impressive tribute to “Pistol” Pete Maravich by Austin Reaves, but unsurprisingly, Michael Jordan and Vince Carter steal the show with some signature slams. You’ll also spot a young Kobe Bryant modded into the Rookie Showcase in NBA 2K14. Six different games are in the countdown this week including a couple of interesting entries, namely The Dunkers and Fox Sports NBA Basketball 2000. Let’s get to the action!

What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five rosters that I’d like to make for NBA Live 06 PC.

Even though I haven’t been as active in the modding community as I was during the heyday of NBA Live on PC, the lure to tinker with the games I’m playing has always been there. Admittedly I haven’t been moved to mod recent NBA 2K games any more than I have been to play them, but should a future release capture my interest, I won’t rule out the possibility. For now though, just as I’ve gravitated towards retro gaming, I’m far more interested in creating mods for old favourites that find their way back into my rotation…or new old favourites, as the case may be.

One old favourite that I’d like to play more often and mod once again is NBA Live 06 PC. Although it was generally well-received in its day – and in my view, is the last great all-around release in the NBA Live series – that may sound like a strange choice. Compared to games such as NBA 2K13 and NBA 2K14, it doesn’t have the same significant following several years after its release. To that end, I accept that any rosters that I create for NBA Live 06 will be niche projects, and indeed likely largely for my own use. That doesn’t mean I can’t and shouldn’t create them, though! They’re worth considering at least, and to that point, here are five ideas that I have in mind.

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I love seeing new mod releases for NBA Live 06 PC, and hope to contribute some of my own very soon! For now though, boxMAN29 has created a 1999-2002 jersey for the Atlanta Hawks, which you can pick up at the link below.

boxMAN29
1999-2002 Atlanta Hawks Jerseys

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at the lockout rosters that were found in NBA 2K12 at launch.

NBA 2K12 wasn’t the first game with rosters affected by a lockout. Due to their early release, the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive versions of NBA Live 96 had to launch with 1995 season rosters (and a workaround to add missing players, as well as an expansion draft). NBA Live 99 was also affected by a lockout, though the PC version did receive a 1999 season roster update on top of the fixes provided by an official patch. A combination of an earlier release and the extremely brief lockout of 1996 caused NBA Full Court Press to feature the previous campaign’s rosters.

Those are just some of the most prominent examples. The lockouts of 1995, 1996, and 1998 affected a handful of other games released around the same time as those titles, as naturally everyone’s hands were tied by the same restrictions of a labour stoppage. However, there were a few differences with the lockout rosters of NBA 2K12. On top of only one other game being affected that year, it was an issue that could now be resolved post-launch across all platforms, not just on PC. There were also some new challenges, particularly after online support ended. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #586 of the NLSC Podcast!

Although we generally focus on the Triple-A scene, there’s definitely untapped potential for the virtual hardwood and blacktop in the indie gaming space. To that end, this week we discuss The Dunkers, a 2D indie basketball title that’s currently available in Early Access on Steam. Following a competitive session with the game, we’re hoping that it will continue to be updated and ultimately fulfil its potential! We also once again touch on the possibility of EA Sports returning to basketball gaming with NBA Live or a college basketball game. Little did we know that a big announcement was on the horizon, so we’ll undoubtedly be coming back to this topic in the very near future!

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 47:37 — 33.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

In an exciting development for those of us who have been hoping to see more titles in the basketball gaming space, EA Sports has announced a new college basketball game, their first since NCAA Basketball 10 way back in 2009! The company unveiled their plans to return to the virtual hardwood with a post on X, simply stating “Bring the Madness. Let’s run it back.”, along with the hashtags #CBB and #ItsInTheGame.

As reported by Gamespot, Extra Points recently obtained a memo from the Collegiate Licensing Company indicating that a bid had been put out for a new college basketball game, which EA Sports appears to have won. Furthermore, it seems that the CLC’s proposal is for a game that includes both men’s and women’s college teams. Notably, EA Sports has previously done that in their NCAA March Madness/NCAA Basketball series.

Before we get too excited, it should be noted that it seems as though the game won’t be available until 2028 at the earliest. Considering that the return of the EA Sports College Football series was announced in 2021, and EA Sports College Football 25 was subsequently released in 2024, this isn’t altogether surprising. It’s also being speculated that like the College Football series, the new college basketball game from EA Sports won’t be NCAA-licensed in light of EA’s split with the organisation following the lawsuit headed up by Ed O’Bannon. Again, that hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s a solid guess at this point.

No further details are available at this time, but we’ll certainly be keeping our eyes and ears open for any news! That also goes for a potential return for the NBA Live series, though I personally wouldn’t get too excited about that prospect until we hear a similar announcement. Nevertheless, EA Sports’ willingness to develop a new basketball game is certainly promising. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, as well as here in the Forum!

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some reflections on changing my views on using automatic replays.

As I noted when I reflected on going back to manual substitutions, our basketball gaming habits and preferences can and do change. Maybe a particular game has a bug that requires a workaround, or perhaps you suddenly find that a specific feature is actually quite useful after all. You might discover that you change your mind again, or keep switching things up as you see fit. That’s basically how I now approach manual and automatic substitutions. There was a time when I’d always turn auto subs off and I’ve been gravitating towards that preference again, but sometimes I’ll still use them.

Automatic substitutions weren’t the only option that I used to adjust shortly after getting a new basketball video game. When automatic replays debuted in the NBA Live series, I ended up turning them off; usually after forgetting and skipping a few replays before heading into the options menu to save me the trouble! However, these days I usually leave automatic replays enabled, though I may still skip them if I feel the play wasn’t really worth watching again. Much like my evolving preferences with manual and automatic substitutions, my changing views on automatic replays came down to how I was playing games, and what I wanted out of the virtual hardwood.

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We’ve had a handful of mod releases from SodaBig recently, and the latest is another update to the Prime Roster for the Wii version of NBA 2K11. Check it out at the link below!

SodaBig
NBA 2K11 Wii Prime Roster (Updated to v2.8)

Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute to our Downloads database! If you need help uploading files, be sure to check out this video tutorial. For more information about downloads, the modding community, and Mod Releases bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Get ready for more fantastic highlights from the basketball gaming community in the NLSC Top 10 Plays of the Week, curated by Dee! New and old games alike are featured in this celebration of spectacular moments on the virtual hardwood. To submit your clips, post them in this topic, send Dee a message, or hit him up on X.

Another offseason is here and we’re most likely at least a few weeks away from getting our first look at NBA 2K26, but that won’t stop us from hitting the virtual hardwood in a variety of favourites; especially when we have mods to keep them fresh! This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is another countdown jam-packed with aerial wizardry, in some fantastic scenarios facilitated by retro season rosters and other projects. With highlights from NBA 2K14, NBA 2K19, NBA 2K20, and NBA 2K25, it’s the best basketball gaming reel you’ll see all week. Let’s get to the action!

What was your favourite highlight this week? Sound off in the comments below, and once again, get in on the fun by sending us your best plays! Remember, as long as it’s a basketball game, it’s eligible for the countdown. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube for more basketball gaming videos.