The Badges 2K Need to Keep and the Ones They Must Ditch

The NBA 2K24 badges that should stay and/or go

The NBA 2K24 badges that should stay and/or go

The NBA 2K24 is less than two months away from launching, and it’s the right time to start preparation for the new edition of this popular basketball simulation. After going through the NBA 2K24 rating prediction, it's time to talk about NBA 2K24 badges.

It’s vital to understand how NBA 2K24 badges work in order to improve your players in the MyCareer and MyTeam modes. The badges have been part of NBA 2K for several years now. But not all of them are good.

While most NBA 2K24 badges are there to help you in the aforementioned game modes, some are unnecessary. We will take a look at which ones should be kept and which shouldn't be included in NBA 2K24.

Best NBA 2K24 badges

Now, it’s important to note that NBA 2K24 badges are still unrevealed. Some may not return from the 2K23 edition, while some new ones could appear. As a reference, we will list the best badges from each of the four categories.

Finishing

These badges will enhance your player’s ability to score from close range and to have a stronger finish.

These NBA 2K24 badges will improve your finishing
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Finishing badges - destroy your opponent in the paint
  • Fearless Finisher - Improves player’s ability to score baskets even when closely guarded and with body contact from defenders.
  • Slithery – Makes the player very hard to guard by increasing his movement and reducing contact below the rim.

Shooting

Shooting badges will make your player more accurate and effective, directly affecting his shooting skills.

NBA 2K24 badges will make you a shooting superstar
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Shooting badges - Become a sharpshooter
  • Volume Shooter – Produces a shooting boost for consecutive shots after a player takes a small number of attempts.
  • Limitless Range – The player can hit a three-pointer from pretty much everywhere. This badge allows you to attempt near-midcourt triples, something Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard like to do.

Playmaking

Enhances your player’s dribbling and passing skills, with better ball control and more creativity when setting up plays.

These NBA 2K24 badges will create a point god from your guard
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Playmaking badges - Create a floor general
  • Ankle Breaker – Excellent badge for gamers who love to take on defenders in isolation. It will improve a player’s dribbling ability and make him unguardable. Defenders will often fall and stumble when your player makes quick moves, stepbacks, etc.
  • Dimer – It increases the shot percentage to open shooters when passes come from a passer in the half-court.
  • Floor General – Makes the player's teammates better on offence when a player with this badge is on the court.

Defence/Rebounding

These NBA 2K24 badges will improve rebounding, stealing, blocking, and defensive awareness.

These NBA 2K24 badges will make you a DPOY candidate
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Defense/Rebounding badges - Protect that rim!
  • Anchor – Perfectly suited for tall defenders who are excellent at protecting the rim. It boosts the ability to block shots and makes the opponent’s layup and dunk attempts more difficult.
  • Clamp – The defender will have quicker cut-off moves and stick to the ball handler with increased success, guarding him with more energy.
  • Interceptor – Improves stealing ability and makes a defender tip and intercept passes more frequently.

These are some of the best badges and should be in NBA 2K24. Still, they could come slightly differently this time out, while some of the badges may not return at all.

Worst NBA2K24 badges

Thanks to the evolution of NBA 2K badges, the gameplay balance is better, and the players have higher rankings. However, some of the badges proved to be not very good for the gameplay balance and were unnecessary. We will talk about those that shouldn’t be included in NBA 2K24 badges and the ones that should be changed or merged with another badge.

Agent 3 badge

It increases a shooter’s ability to make spin shots and pull-ups from beyond the arc. While it is entirely realistic to expect a solid shooter to hit wide-open fadeaway shots for three, the Agent 3 badge makes these shots pretty common. That’s not a good thing because it shouldn’t be that easy.

The NBA 2K23 Agent 3 badge wouldn't be missed in 2K24
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Making threes is easier than ever - It must go!

Pulling off this move doesn’t even need a player to be a skilful three-pointer or have good balance. These shots will not be successful with such a percentage in the real NBA, making this badge rather unwanted in NBA 2K24.

Handles For Days badge

Handles For Days badge is improving the ball-handler's dribbling ability, and it takes less energy out of him so that he can make combo dribbles without getting tired. Introduced in NBA 2K20 to resemble isolation and dribbling stars such as Stephen Curry, Allen Iverson, and Kyrie Irving, this badge seem toxic for a simulation-style basketball.

The NBA 2K23 Handles for Days badge must be ditched in 2K24
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Dribble as much as you like - Boring

Without the badge, the players wouldn’t be able to dribble all the time and run the same play action all over again. That’s why eliminating this badge from NBA2K24 badges would be the right thing to do.

Bail Out badge

The Bail Out badge helps a passer have a more precise pass when double-teamed or in a shooting or layup motion. Every basketball coach will advise players against jump passes because most end up on the stands and not in their teammates’ hands. Such passes are not a part of good basketball fundamentals.

The NBA 2K23 Bail Out badge is making bad players better - Not good!
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Bailing out bad players is unreal

The gamers shouldn’t be rewarded by bailing them out of tricky situations when they are supposed to lose the ball, make an offensive foul, etc. It’s just not real, and it’s another cheesy badge that deserves to go out.

Let’s get to the badges that aren’t all bad but could use some changes or merge with another badge.

Bully badge

A very useful badge and nice having it, especially if you prefer taking the basket to the rim like Jimmy Butler.

The NBA2K23 Bully badge must be imrpoved
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An useful badge but must be improved

A Bully badge allows you to initiate contact and finish off strongly, using layups, but it’s not easy to obtain. It has to lower the stat, strength, and point requirements as all of them are too high.

Post Spin Technician badge

It reduces chances for defenders to steal the ball as your player will have more effective post-spins and drive moves.

The NBA 2K23 Post Spin Technician badge is useful for big guys
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This badge needs to merge with Dream Shake

It’s a good badge for big guys who are crafty enough to make post spins, but this badge should be mixed with Dream Shake because it has more sense.

Masher badge

It makes a player pretty unstoppable around the rim, especially when defended by shorter defenders.

The NBA 2K23 MAsher badge will destroy smaller defenders
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Not a bad badge, but Grace Under Pressure is better

The first thing that comes to mind with this badge is the height gap requirement, and it would work better without the gap. Instead, the badge should be more like Grace Under Pressure.