EA has advised that the NBA Live 19 servers will be shutting down on January 30th, 2026. The game was de-listed from digital storefronts in late October, basically telegraphing that the end of online support was rapidly approaching.

In recent months, gamers have reported problems when trying to play LIVE Events in The One, suggesting that online support has been in the process of wrapping up for a while now. However, Ultimate Team has remained online and fully functional to this day, and I can confirm that a handful of people are still active in the Community Market on PlayStation 4. With that being said, Ultimate Team will definitely be inaccessible once the NBA Live 19 servers are shut down early next year, along with all other online modes. The final roster update will also be unavailable at that time.

With the shutdown of the NBA Live 18 servers last year, it’s no surprise that NBA Live 19 will soon follow suit. EA has been unusually generous in maintaining online support for the eighth gen NBA Live releases, especially compared to the 27 months that Take-Two guarantees for NBA 2K titles. Obviously NBA 2K has been markedly more successful with a majority of gamers moving on every year, but to that end, it’s quite surprising that the less popular NBA Live releases have retained online support for so long. Prior to support ending for NBA Live 18 last year, NBA Live 14 and NBA Live 15 were still online as of 2019, while NBA Live 16’s servers were finally shut down in 2020. As such, the eighth gen NBA Lives have ended up receiving between five and seven years of online support.

However, the time has obviously come for NBA Live 19 to be sunset. For anyone still playing the game – which includes me, thanks to a recent kick – we’ll still have three months to finish up any business with modes featuring online content. The offline modes will naturally still be available, though speaking for myself, it’ll be a shame to lose Ultimate Team. Additionally, if you don’t own the game and want to add it to your collection, at this point you’ll need to track down a physical copy. In any case, if NBA Live 19 is still in your rotation or you’d like to give it another look while it’s still relatively intact, make sure you’re ready to be done with it by January 30th next year!

Today’s NBA 2K23 mod releases feature 2026 season court updates for the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors, created by Lethanos. Please be advised that they’re also compatible with NBA 2K20, NBA 2K21, NBA 2K22, and NBA 2K24. Pick them up at the links below!

Lethanos
Sacramento Kings 25-26 Court
Golden State Warriors 2024-25 City 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.

No, this isn’t an apparition! With today being Halloween, we’re sharing a spooktacular edition of the NLSC Top 10 Plays on Friday instead of in the usual Saturday timeslot. With that being said, there are some frighteningly good highlights this week, from bone-crunching ankle-breakers to monstrous poster dunks. You’ll also spot one of the Halloween-themed secrets that I mentioned in this week’s Friday Five! Seven different games are on display, from NBA Showtime: NBA on NBC all the way through to NBA 2K26. 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.

Happy Halloween, everyone! We’re definitely in the spooky spirit this year, with a Friday Five recalling five times that Halloween hit the virtual hardwood, and a special edition of the NLSC Top 10 Plays coming a little later on. In that same spirit, I’m presenting a new Tales of the Virtual Hardwood, all about the monsters in NBA Live 08!

What’s that? You don’t remember any monsters in NBA Live 08? I assure you, this is no mod or cheat code! Hiding in plain sight in the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version of NBA Live 08 are some ghoulish figures. I’d suggest that most of us who know about their presence probably discovered them completely by accident while messing around in instant replay. This tale isn’t as infamous as the haunted NBA Jam cabinets, but it’s undeniably creepy! Behold…

I hope you enjoyed this spooky tale about the monsters in NBA Live 08! It was definitely a lot of fun to put together. Dee and I are frequently uploading content to the NLSC YouTube channel – usually highlights, retrospectives, video essays, and episodes of the NLSC Podcast rather than spooky stories – so be sure to subscribe if you haven’t already. Once again, stay tuned for a special Halloween edition of the NLSC Top 10 Plays later today.

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 times that Halloween has had a presence in basketball video games.

Back in June, I let a Friday the 13th pass without a Friday Five topic related to bad luck or the number 13. Admittedly that’s because I’ve already gone to that well a few times and didn’t have a fresh topic in mind, but since then, one has actually occurred to me. I’ll have to wait until next year to use it since we won’t have another Friday the 13th until then, but in the meantime, I can mark another famous date here in the Five: Halloween! Since Halloween has fallen on a Friday this year, I thought it’d be fun to look at how the holiday has been celebrated on the virtual hardwood.

As I’ve noted when I looked back at some creepy moments in honour of Halloweens past, horror and basketball video games don’t usually go hand-in-hand. Well, I could cynically refer to how scary it is that microtransactions have become so accepted, or the twisted tale of how there’s a monopoly in the space, but that kind of snark isn’t what I’m going for here! In any case, there are examples of basketball video games getting into the spirit of the spooky season, which include both sim and arcade titles. While they may not be anywhere near as frightening as a horror game packed full of jump scares, this Halloween content has been an extra treat for basketball gamers.

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Earlier this year, Play by Play Studios – a studio comprised of former EA developers – announced The Run: Got Next, a spiritual successor to the NBA Street series. Since then, Play by Play Studios has been able to acquire the NBA license. As such, the game will now be titled NBA The Run, and is slated for release on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S in 2026.

The game will still feature 3v3 action, with a more casual, arcade-style approach to virtual basketball. The original characters now star alongside NBA players in a series of Knockout Tournaments staged at iconic street courts around the world. Tournament rounds last 2-5 minutes, and feature randomised rules such as “Dunk Fest” and “Speed Round”. As was the original plan with The Run: Got Next, NBA The Run is strictly an online game, though the developers are apparently leaving the door open for local and head-to-head play. New York DJ Bob “Bobbito” Garcia, the announcer for NBA Street Vol. 2, will be calling the action.

In a post over on the PlayStation Blog, Creative Director Michael Young describes NBA The Run as skill-based, equally fun on offense and defense, and a nonstop highlight reel. He touts the fluidity of the controls, rollback netcode for a smooth online experience, and the goal of creating a game that’s easy to pick up but rewarding to master. Young also describes it as “a game with spirit, a game with soul”, and refers to the characters having stories that will create a “living basketball universe”.

Although an online game may not be what most of us were hoping for, with EA backing out of developing a college basketball title, it’s good to know that other alternatives to NBA 2K are in the pipeline. Check out the teaser trailer below, as well as an overview of the features from the Steam listing. Dee and I will naturally discuss this development on an upcoming episode of the NLSC Podcast, but in the meantime, please share your thoughts in the comments, and join in the discussion here in the Forum!

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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 reflecting on where a number of NBA Legends ideally should have retired.

With the 2026 NBA season underway, some of the biggest names in the league are continuing lengthy careers. LeBron James is embarking on a record-setting 23rd NBA campaign, which indeed may not be his last. Stephen Curry is in his 17th year, while former teammate Kevin Durant is in his 18th (though it would’ve been his 19th if not for missing the entire 2020 season). Of course, only Curry is still with the team that he began his NBA career with. As such, he’s the most likely of the three to retire with his original club, and having never left to boot.

Mind you, while it sometimes seems that superstars move around more often than they used to, even decades ago future Hall of Famers were wrapping up their storied careers on different teams. That’s how we’ve come to see so many familiar faces in strange places! To that end, while we focus on the accomplishments of those Legends and where they were in their prime more so than we do their weird final stints, we may still wish that they retired in the “right” place. Thanks to basketball video games, we can see what that would’ve looked like. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #603 of the NLSC Podcast!

A week into the 2026 NBA season, the league has been rocked by a gambling scandal. Not only that, but many fans – us included – have been irritated by the amount of flopping and free throws on display. This week, we join the community in discussing the gambling scandal and the way it throws the league’s credibility into doubt, issues with officiating and the style of play, and a few other NBA matters that are getting us down. We also talk about whether playing basketball video games makes up for feeling disappointed with real hoops, before wrapping up with some stories about the times we’ve been ejected on the virtual hardwood.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:03:56 — 44.3MB)

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!

PatTheHead’s roster pack for NBA 2K13 is constantly being updated, but he recently put out a major release with V6.0 of the project. The new version includes 2026 season rosters, which is excellent news with the season now underway.

The pack’s retro season mods have also been receiving plenty of attention. Over a hundred new player faces have been added, along with further team art updates. ukwe has been contributing end-of-season versions of several of the retro season mods, for those who’d prefer to play with all of the trades and signings that occurred throughout the year. New jerseys by Pep have also been added to the 2025 FIBA Eurobasket 2025 rosters.

For those who are unaware, PatTheHead’s NBA 2K13 roster pack not only features current and retro NBA season rosters, but also mods for the Olympics and other historical leagues including the ABA, ABL, NBL, and BAA. It’s an interactive love letter to basketball history, created for a game that still holds up superbly.

Download the roster pack here, and check out the release topic here in the Forum for more information, previews, and continuous updates! A huge thanks to PatTheHead and all of the talented contributors for keeping this outstanding project going, and making it available to the community free of charge. We admire and appreciate the passion and effort that goes into keeping an old favourite alive with new content.

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 two camera angles that I prefer to use in basketball video games.

As is the case with just about any fandom, the basketball gaming community has had some silly arguments and engaged in ridiculous gatekeeping. Post a fun highlight clip, and someone is bound to sneer that you must be playing on a lower difficulty level. That may or may not be true, but it’s needlessly judgemental when the point of a clip was to show off a cool animation, not to brag about stick skills. However, nothing compares to the ridiculous gatekeeping and elitism surrounding the choice in camera angles. It truly is the most absurd thing to judge other basketball gamers on!

I find the idea of there only being one “correct” choice in camera angles particularly silly as there are actually two that I primarily use, and a couple of others that I also like. Don’t get me wrong; even if there was only one camera angle for me, I wouldn’t consider others to be incorrect, or a sign of ineptitude and source of shame. For that matter, I don’t think that my preference for multiple camera angles makes me better than anyone, either! Indeed, given that there’s a reason basketball gamers prefer a particular view over other camera angles, my approach is arguably the weird one. However, there’s a reason that my basketball gaming is a tale of two camera angles.

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We have four new player faces in today’s NBA Live 2005 mod releases, courtesy of Modders27. Check them out at the links below!

Modders27
Trae Young Face
Jaylen Brown Face
Jimmy Butler Face
Donovan Mitchell Face

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.

This week’s NLSC Top 10 Plays brings you another assortment of thundering poster dunks, wild alley-oops, slick dishes, and crafty layups, topped off by another cold-blooded clutch play. As usual, there’s also great variety in the games being featured, with seven different titles from NBA Live 08 through to NBA 2K26. From Legends seasons in NBA 2K17 to The Streets World Tour in NBA Live 19 to playing with current rosters in NBA 2K26, this week’s countdown is another spectacular demonstration of the fun the community is having on the virtual hardwood. 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.

Today’s NBA 2K14 mod releases feature Pep’s packs of classic uniforms and sponsor updates for the 2026 season. Check them out at the links below!

Pep
NBA Nike Classic Uniforms 25/26
NBA Nike 2025/2026 Sponsors Updates

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.

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 mods that I’ve wanted to make for NBA Live 96 PC over the years.

As I’ve said before, NBA Live 96 PC is one of my all-time favourite basketball video games. Indeed, it’s one of the very first basketball video games that I owned, and the title that led me to discover the NLSC and modding way back in 1997. As such, even though other titles have surpassed NBA Live 96 in my personal rankings, I have great affection and nostalgia for it. Those fond memories come rushing back whenever I fire it up for a retro gaming session, or pick up the tools to tinker with it once again. In short, it’s brought me a great deal of joy over the years, and continues to do so.

Of course, when it comes to making NBA Live 96 mods, I do have a few regrets. That includes criticism of my efforts to update the game for the 1998 season all those years ago, but some of my biggest regrets with NBA Live 96 are the mods that I didn’t get to make. In some cases I made some preliminary preparations for a project, or even managed some early progress on a mod, only for it to fall through. Obviously, I could still probably attempt some of these projects as I’m all for creating fun mods for my own sessions with NBA Live 96, but it’s hard to justify that much work for such an old game. Nevertheless, here are five NBA Live 96 mods I’ve always wanted to make.

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Following the release of a demo back in August, Hoop Land by Koality Game is now available on Steam through Early Access! The game was first released for Android and iOS back in 2023, which naturally piqued interest in a PC version. That’s now a reality, and you can pick it up with a 10% discount through October 28th.

For those who aren’t familiar with Hoop Land, it’s a retro-inspired sandbox basketball game featuring 2D gameplay. It can be played solo and multiplayer, or watched in spectator mode. Although it’s a throwback to classic games, there are modern mechanics that allow you to perform ankle breakers, alley-oops, step backs, chase down blocks, and so on. It also includes fully customisable leagues, which can be used in Career, Franchise, and Commissioner season modes. Each season file features integrated college and pro leagues, with a rookie draft. Additionally, the default team branding in Hoop Land affectionately parodies the real NBA, in the vein of Super Dunk Shot.

Check out a launch trailer for Hoop Land and a breakdown of its key features below! It’s great to see more indie developers in the basketball gaming space, and I’d definitely recommend giving Hoop Land a look. Dee and I also discussed our early impressions of the mobile version back in Episode #502 of the NLSC Podcast. Obviously the demo is still available if you’d like to try before you buy, and once again, you can get 10% off if you buy it before October 28th. Congratulations to Koality Game on the release, and the continued efforts to improve and expand upon the game!

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