NBA 2K21

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 how haunting it feels to traverse empty servers in The City and The Neighborhood.

Last year, I bid vale to the NBA 2K20 servers and its online features. In that article, I mostly focused on the increasing amount of content that we lose when servers are shut down. That’s an important topic, and obviously it’s happened again in the wake of the NBA 2K21 servers being switched off. Although 27 months amounts to supporting an annual title through two and a half seasons, it always seems to go by so quickly. If you do have any unfinished business in MyCAREER or MyTEAM, you may spend the last days of December scrambling to complete it before it’s too late.

I’ve absolutely been in that boat myself. Furthermore, as a content creator, I’ve made it a point to get as many screenshots and clips as possible for potential future articles and video features. This means having at least one more session where I go through as much of the online content and connected modes as I can, adding to my media library. Indeed, after my New Year’s Eve plans fell through at the last minute, I spent the evening of December 31st 2022 taking one last look at MyTEAM and MyCAREER in NBA 2K21. With The City and The Neighborhood in MyCAREER in particular, it was impossible not to notice the haunting atmosphere that comes with empty servers.

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The official NBA 2K Twitter recently posted a reminder about the NBA 2K21 server shutdown, which is scheduled for December 31st, 2022. This is in line with the promised duration for online support, which was extended to 27 months back in 2014 after the NBA 2K14 server shutdown led to much controversy.

To state the obvious, all online play and functionality will be unavailable following the NBA 2K21 server shutdown. This includes MyTEAM and MyCAREER, as an offline version of the latter mode hasn’t been available since NBA 2K19. Roster sharing will not be possible (at least on console), and official roster updates will not be redownloaded if the game is reinstalled. All unused Virtual Currency and MT will be lost, with no option to transfer the remaining balance to NBA 2K22 or NBA 2K23.

Additionally, 2K have confirmed that NBA 2K21 will be pulled from digital storefronts following the server shutdown. In the past, older titles have sometimes remained available to buy for up to a few years later. Infamously, the special editions of NBA 2K18 were still being sold as of December 2020, despite their bonuses requiring online support that had long since concluded. Since then, 2K has been quicker to pull games that are no longer supported. To that end, if you’re a collector/completionist and don’t own NBA 2K21 yet, you’ll have until January 1st 2023 to add it to your library of basketball video games.

As always, anyone who already owns NBA 2K21 on PC or console will still be able to download it again and continue to play offline modes beyond the server shutdown. Nevertheless, I’d recommend wrapping up any unfinished business ASAP, as well as downloading any custom rosters before the servers go offline. Feel free to suggest any rosters for your fellow gamers to check out while there’s still time, either in the comments below or here in our NBA 2K21 Forum.

Enhance a custom Draft Class with today’s mod releases for NBA 2K21! OG2K has released a couple of fictional player faces, which you can download at the links below.

OG2K
Fictional Cyberface by OG2K
Fictional Cyberface #2 by OG2K

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.

In what is likely our last NBA 2K21 file additions update for this year, NoXeMo has released a retired Kobe Bryant face update. Check it out at the link below!

NoXeMo
Retired Kobe Bryant 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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Today’s file additions for NBA 2K21 feature a new version of SimonLee’s accessory and jersey model update. Check it out at the link below!

SimonLee
Adapted Accessory & Jersey Models (Updated to v1.2)

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 File Additions 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! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on how there’s a certain amount of myopia that comes with mastering mechanics on the virtual hardwood.

I think we can all agree that there should be some degree of challenge in basketball video games. A game that is easily mastered and beaten tends to be boring, though hoops titles – even sim-oriented ones – should nevertheless be accessible, and feature easier difficulty levels. When it comes to the virtual hardwood, there needn’t be a challenge on the level of the Souls series, or games like Returnal, the roguelike that was released earlier this year. Arcade or sim, they’re about representing the sport of basketball, not being exceedingly challenging and for the hardest of the hardcore.

At the same time, a certain amount of challenge and skill is expected of the online competitive scene. The best competitors are the ones mastering the mechanics and strategies that allow them to dominate and defeat their fellow gamers, not just the AI. Even offline, mastery on the sticks will allow gamers to rise to the sometimes unfair challenges of the Hall of Fame difficulty setting. This is obviously achieved through practice and dedication, which is a fair demand for the most challenging experiences in basketball gaming to make. However, in evaluating design principles and overall appeal and accessibility, mastering mechanics does unfortunately lead to myopia.

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The latest file additions for NBA 2K21 feature new face updates from NoXeMo. Download them at the links below!

NoXeMo
LeBron James Heat Face (Updated to v1.2)
Kyrie Irving 2016 3 Faces Pack

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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Although NBA 2K21 modding will likely slow down somewhat with the release of NBA 2K22, we do have some new file additions for last year’s game. Pick up a face for Mantzoukas Lefteris at the link below!

WANKELL
Mantzoukas Lefteris 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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five outlines the five stages that we go through every time there’s a new basketball game release.

We’re on the road to a new basketball game release, namely NBA 2K22. Obviously, we’re all hoping for the best as far as gameplay improvements, enhancements to game modes, and a fairer approach to recurrent revenue mechanics. Alright, we probably shouldn’t hold our breath on that last point! Nevertheless, the preview season always brings a mixture of excitement, intrigue, scepticism, and cynicism. We’re hoping for good news and want to be open-minded, but we’re also leery of being disappointed, having been burned by previous releases.

Of course, we gamers – and the content creators, influencers, and pundits within gaming communities – are creatures of habit. We don’t always learn from the past, though that is admittedly a very human problem. Having covered basketball games for the NLSC for twenty years now, I’ve noticed the same cycle repeating with every game and preview season. In fact, it’s so consistent that I can apply the “five stages of grief” model to the steps we collectively go through whenever a new basketball game release is looming. Do I expect to break the cycle simply by pointing this out? No, but if nothing else, spelling it out may explain why many of us feel so cynical at times.

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at that weird Zion trailer for NBA 2K21 Next Gen.

Way back in the fourth season of The Simpsons, in the classic episode “Mr. Plow”, Homer becomes…well, Mr. Plow. At first his business succeeds, thanks in small part to his creation of a surprisingly competent commercial. When Homer begins to lose customers to Barney’s Plow King business, he seeks the help of an ad agency that ends up creating a commercial that is a hilarious send-up of just about every artsy, pseudo intellectual advertisement that has barely anything to do with the product or service in question.

To me, that’s the perfect analogy for the weird Zion teaser trailer for the Next Gen version of NBA 2K21. It was weird, it had questionable imagery, and judging by some YouTube comments, it offended a few people as well. Normally I’d wait a bit longer to cover basketball games and basketball gaming subjects in my Wayback Wednesday features, but hey, it was over a year ago, so I’ll bend the rules on this occasion. Let’s take a look back…a little way back…

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Today’s file additions for NBA 2K21 include retro faces, three face updates for Kevin Durant from different stages of his career, and 1976 Denver Nuggets branding. Pick them up at the links below!

mjk2000
1976 Larry McNeill Face
1976 Denver Nuggets Logo & Court
1976 David Thompson Face

NoXeMo
Kevin Durant 3 Faces Pack

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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

NBA 2K22 news may be slower than anticipated, but our modding community is still working on mods for last year’s game! Today’s file additions for NBA 2K21 include player faces and Summer League rosters. Check them out at the links below!

mjk2000
1977 Bill Robinzine Face
1975 John Gianelli Face
1977 Nate Archibald Face

Shuajota
2021 Summer League
Rokas Jokubaitis Face

NoXeMo
LeBron James 2007 Face
LeBron James Full Beard 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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Even as NBA 2K22 looms, the NBA 2K21 modding community remains hard at work, as evident by the latest file additions! Today’s releases include new retro faces by mjk2000, and Shuajota’s updated offseason rosters, 2021 Draft Class, and Olympic Games roster demo. Check them all out at the links below!

mjk2000
1974 Utah Jazz Blue Re-Branding (2K77)
1978 Swen Nater Face
1976 Bob Dandridge Face
1977 Sam Lacey Face

Shuajota
PCBasket Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Demo
2021-22 Attention to Detail Roster
2021 Realistic 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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

Today’s file additions for NBA 2K21 PC include retro player faces, throwback jerseys for the New York Knicks, and ESPN and FOX scoreboards. Download them all at the links below!

NoXeMo
2013-2017 New York Knicks Jerseys
J.R. Smith Retro Face
LeBron James Heat Face
Tyson Chandler Retro Face
Tony Parker 2 Faces Pack
Derek Fisher 2 Faces Pack
Jason Kidd Old Face

mjk2000
1977 George McGinnis Face
1978 Henry Bibby Face
1977 Artis Gilmore Face
1978 Rich Kelley Face
1977 Otto Moore Face

Karinge
ESPN & FOX 2021 Scoreboard (Updated to Final version)

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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.

The latest file additions for NBA 2K21 PC include current and retro faces, and a throwback jersey for the Denver Nuggets. Download them all at the links below!

NoXeMo
Chris Paul 2014 Face
Carmelo Anthony Nuggets Face
2008 Denver Nuggets Shining Jerseys

Shuajota
Mamadi Diakite Face
Devon Dotson Face
Jae´Sean Tate Face
Daquan Jeffries Face
Armoni Brooks Face
Sam Merrill 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 File Additions bulletins, please see this FAQ in our Wiki.