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 why I find it distasteful when video game companies join in with memes and jokes, especially about themselves.

Like any joke or popular fad, online memes eventually run their course. To that end, the general lifecycle of a meme has been astutely lampooned by several people. Last year, Man Carrying Thing posted a sketch that summed up the rapid rise and fall of many an absurd meme that achieves inexplicable popularity. While “OK Boomer” lives on as a common retort, cartoonist Kasia Babis aptly used it as an example of a meme’s lifecycle. Another cartoonist, Alex Krokus, perfectly captured the general response to brands jumping on memes and online trends.

Alex’s comic in particular resonates with me, because we’ve seen more and more brands attempt to join in on viral trends as a marketing strategy. Naturally, this also includes video game developers and publishers. On paper, it makes sense for these companies to angle for some viral positive publicity by attempting to cultivate a fun and relatable image, though this can easily backfire. This is especially true whenever a company tries to lean into jokes and memes about itself. Although it can be a very effective strategy if they end up pulling it off, it can easily fail to achieve the playful vibe that they’re aiming for. All too often, it instead comes across as condescending.

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PatTheHead continues do some amazing work for NBA 2K13, as his roster pack now includes an end of 2025 season update. This is fantastic news for everyone who’d like to bring the modern NBA into a classic release!

In addition to updated rosters, the latest release includes new dornas, new cyberfaces for hundreds of players courtesy of several contributors, and Pep’s 2025 All-Star jerseys. Enhancements have also been made to other rosters in the pack, including teams for the exhibition games in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic mods. A handful of jersey numbers have also been fixed.

For those who are unfamiliar with the previous releases, on top of a 2025 season update and Olympic rosters, PatTheHead’s NBA 2K13 roster pack includes a host of retro season mods spanning decades of basketball history. This includes retro NBA rosters, ABA rosters, NBL rosters, BAA rosters, and even ABL rosters! It’s definitely a love letter to hoops, in a game that still holds up superbly today.

Check out Pat’s release topic for the download links, as well as previews of what’s already available and what’s coming in future updates! You’ll also find some fun basketball history and trivia. Shout out as always to Pat and everyone else who’s keeping NBA 2K13 and other classics alive with retro rosters, current roster updates, and other excellent mods! Your efforts and willingness to share these fantastic projects with the community free of charge is most appreciated.

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.

Can you believe it? We’re tipping off Year 5 of the NLSC Top 10 Plays, and as you’d expect, we’re doing so in style! As usual, variety is the name of the game, with seven different titles in the countdown ranging from NBA Hangtime to NBA 2K25. There’s also a dazzling array of highlights, from breathtaking alley-oops to flashy and powerful poster dunks to wild buzzer beaters. The 2025 NBA season may be rapidly drawing to a close, but as always, the community exemplifies that old Nike slogan: basketball never stops. Please keep the awesome submissions coming, but for now, 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 major problems with open worlds in sports video games.

Since the introduction of The Neighborhood in NBA 2K18, open worlds have been a core part of the MyCAREER experience. Whether an urban complex, a cruise ship, or a beachfront town, they’ve taken MyCAREER and its connected modes from menus to an environment that can be explored. The Neighborhood has since given way to the much larger open world of The City in the flagship version of NBA 2K, although it was condensed slightly in NBA 2K25. Elsewhere, WWE 2K25 now features The Island, and EA Sports are reportedly also looking to bring open worlds to their games.

Now, I have nothing against open worlds in video games. I’m a fan of both the Grand Theft Auto and Fallout series, so I know how much fun the concept can be. However, I don’t believe open worlds belong in sports video games like NBA 2K or WWE 2K. Sure, they can be made to work, facilitating the MMORPG aspects of career modes nowadays. To that point though, I don’t think that it results in a better experience for gamers, particularly anyone who prefers traditional career mode gameplay. With that in mind, here are five big problems that are created when open worlds are forced into sports games, and therefore five reasons why they shouldn’t be a part of those titles!

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The modding scene for NBA 2K14 is still going strong after all these years, as we continue to see some regular mod releases! To that end, Blang has uploaded a pack of 43 faces for prospects in the upcoming 2025 Draft Class, which you can pick up at the link below.

Blang
43 Faces for 2025 Draft Class

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 Dennis Rodman and his changing hair colour on the virtual hardwood.

For decades now, it’s been common to see NBA players with prominent tattoos. Other players have made fashion statements through their hairstyles, sometimes bleaching or colouring their locks in some way. Jeremy Sochan is an example of both, sporting ink and adopting some very colourful looks during his three year NBA career. To that point though, Sochan brings to mind another power forward that once played for the Spurs, wore #10, and was infamous for his numerous tattoos and ever-changing hair colour. I am of course referring to Dennis Rodman!

The Worm’s unique style and unapologetic self-expression at times overshadowed his brilliance on the court, but there was no denying his popularity in the 90s; especially after he was traded to the Chicago Bulls and became an integral part of their second threepeat. Naturally, Rodman’s counterpart on the virtual hardwood was expected to capture this look, which was indeed achieved through unique textures and models. Quite impressively however, several old games also went so far as to give Dennis Rodman changing hair colour as well. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #580 of the NLSC Podcast!

Which teams have we most enjoyed watching, and indeed putting on the virtual hardwood, throughout all of our years of basketball fandom? This week, we join the community in naming our favourite teams from our favourite franchises, our favourite teams from franchises that aren’t our chosen clubs, and our favourite bad teams; bad of course being a relative term in some cases! This leads us to reminisce about a wide variety of teams, from NBA Champions and perennial contenders to flash-in-the-pan squads, basement dwellers, and memorable underdogs, as well as the lineups that made them such fun teams to use in basketball video games for one reason or another.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 58:58 — 40.9MB)

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!

Patch 7.0 is out now for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions of NBA 2K25. The PC patch will be out by May 17th, in time for the tip-off of Season 7. As always, the update should come through automatically as long as you’re online. If it doesn’t, try restarting your console or Steam client, or checking for updates manually.

As I noted when Patch 6.0 dropped, we’re past the point of major title updates for this year’s game. To that point, Patch 7.o is mostly about preparing NBA 2K25 for Season 7 in MyCAREER and MyTEAM. However, it does include a handful of jersey updates – mostly removing sponsor updates and adding other minor details – and likeness updates for various WNBA players. There are also a couple of minor gameplay adjustments, and the usual bug and stability fixes.

You can find the full release notes for Patch 7.0 below, as well as in the NBA 2K25 update history in our Wiki! Feel free to share any impressions in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum.

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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 matching MJ in Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER.

Obviously, simply saying that I’m reflecting on matching MJ is a huge spoiler for how Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER turned out! Of course, I’ve already revealed that via my story topic, and a highlight reel of the 2019 NBA Finals. To that end, this column isn’t intended to keep everyone in suspense about the results, but rather to share my thoughts as I continue to play through a full MyCAREER in NBA 2K14 for PlayStation 4. Although I did take a break to play some other games that captured my attention, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I returned to complete my latest season.

While Year 6 did bear some similarities to the Drive for Five in my fifth season, in other ways it once again proved to be a unique journey with its own ups and downs. From vying for statistical feats, to players getting injured, to contending with different matchups in a league that’s seen a variety of changes over the course of six seasons, I was definitely as invested in Year 6 as any prior campaign. Even though the cutscenes didn’t exactly reflect it, I actually felt like a veteran who’s been around the block a few times; a feeling that I enjoyed as it made the year special. And so, on top of matching MJ with six titles, here’s how Year 6 of my NBA 2K14 MyCAREER went down.

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Today’s NBA 2K25 mod releases are all about retro courts! PX8 has converted INGE’s 2016-2017 Quicken Loans Arena floor update, which is obviously perfect for use with the Curry Era Cleveland Cavaliers in MyNBA Eras. Meanwhile, Bassman58 has uploaded fixed versions of 14 of his Magic-Bird Era courts. Check out all of the latest mod releases for NBA 2K25 below!

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.

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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.

It’s always exciting when you encounter a rare or previously unseen move/animation in a basketball video game. To that end, the #1 highlight in this week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays is something that most of us have probably never seen before in NBA 2K14! Additionally, you’ll find more high-flying action from the NBA Live 2001 Legends, another poster dunk from the game of NBA Live 2000 PC that Dee and I discussed in Episode #579 of the NLSC Podcast, and other fantastic highlights. 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 players whose NBA careers ended abruptly.

Not all NBA players get to ride off into the sunset with the fanfare of a grand farewell tour. In fact, there have been perennial All-Stars and all-time greats who ended their NBA careers in rather unceremonious fashion. Of course, in many cases, age and injuries were still a factor. As such, while they may have deserved a better, more respectful send-off, they’d still enjoyed fairly long careers, and were now at a point where they couldn’t quite go anymore. At the very least, it’s not as puzzling as when a younger, healthier player is seemingly pushed out of the league well before their time.

Obviously, controversy is sometimes a factor. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf – an outstanding shooter who would thrive in today’s NBA – was effectively blackballed for his socio-political beliefs and demonstrations. Michael Ray Richardson declined to return to the NBA after his lifetime ban for substance abuse was lifted, maintaining that he’d been treated unfairly considering the leniency shown to players such as Chris Mullin. The five players I’m covering in this article may not have seen their NBA careers ended abruptly by controversies such as those, but they nevertheless went from mainstays in the league to outsiders in a blink; even as they remained both healthy and capable.

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We don’t get a lot of mod releases for the Wii versions of basketball games, but they certainly are welcome in our database, and we have one for NBA 2K11 today! SodaBig has uploaded another prime roster, which you can find at the link below.

SodaBig
NBA 2K11 Wii Prime Roster

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 some strange stints throughout NBA history, as portrayed by NBA 2K9.

Whenever I’m on a kick with an old basketball video game, I’ll end up messing around with the rosters. As you may have seen, I’m particularly fond of setting up historical scenarios. I’ll make do with throwback jerseys – as I did with NBA Live 10 during my extended kick with that game – but it’s even better when I have some Legends at my disposal. Since NBA 2K9 has both, I ended up snapping a bunch of screenshots of historical players in retro jerseys. It began with placing them in the uniforms that we picture them in the most, but I was soon re-creating some strange stints.

Obviously, I’ve discussed many examples of strange stints in my series of articles about familiar faces in strange places, specifically ones that were represented in the rosters of video games. To that end, I’ve chosen to spotlight the strange stints that weren’t reflected in a contemporary video game – with one exception – followed by a gallery of screenshots of all the examples that I was able to re-create in NBA 2K9. There’s no significance to that choice in game, except that it’s piggybacking on a recent retro gaming kick! With that being said, let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #579 of the NLSC Podcast!

What are the best lineups that we can assemble picking from players in the modern NBA? This week, we fire up NBA 2K25 and run separate fantasy drafts in MyNBA Eras to craft teams that we believe would be both successful and a lot of fun to play with on the virtual hardwood. The exercise leads us to share a few more thoughts on NBA 2K25, and the community’s attitude towards it. We also recap a couple of fun co-op sessions with NBA Live 2000 and NBA 2K13, using the All-Decade teams and a 1985 season roster respectively. Both games continue to impress us all these years later, demonstrating that the best releases are timeless and undoubtedly worth revisiting.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 34:44 — 24.2MB)

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!