Gameplay in NBA 2K27 strives for the most balanced experience to date, introducing meaningful new offensive tools and reworked defensive systems to deliver a rewarding experience on both ends of the floor.
Powered by ProPLAY®, the game continues to push the limits of courtside authenticity by leveraging advanced machine learning capabilities. When you take the hardwood in 2K27, you’ll see heightened fidelity in animations and the real-time evolution of on-court adjustments. As players around the league find new ways to create separation, we’re finding new ways to innovate—giving hoopers of all skill levels the ultimate playground to prove they belong. Dive into this year's massive gameplay enhancements and see what separates the greats from the best.
Every year, NBA players expand their game with more creativity on offense. Thanks to ProPLAY®, we’re able to capture these inspired moves and add another layer of creativity to your offensive bag, giving slashers and playmakers elite tools to freeze defenders and break down coverage.
Superstars like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Luka Dončić have completely mastered the art of the step-through up-and-under to generate clean separation. For the first time ever, you can completely replicate their craftiness in 2K27.
Whether you're actively driving to the basket, backing down an opponent in the post, or sizing up a defender on the perimeter, you can execute a pump fake and immediately push the Pro Stick in one of five directions. This triggers an authentic step-through layup or jumper in that corresponding direction, giving you a lethal counter to catch the defender off guard. Signature movements from elite scorers like Donovan Mitchell have been captured via ProPLAY® to bring these complex sequences to life with absolute real-world fidelity.
Unleash your full bag with an unrestricted dribbling customization suite. Signature dribbling packages have been broken out into individual, decoupled movements. This allows hoopers to personalize every aspect of their attack arsenal—meaning you can seamlessly combine Stephen Curry’s behind-the-back slide with Trae Young’s shifty escape cross. Experiment with endless animation combinations to find your perfect fit.
Here is the full list of customizable dribbling animation categories in 2K27:
Triple-Threat Style
Triple-Threat Breakdown
Triple-Threat Jab-Step
Triple-Threat Stepover
Signature Size-Up
Breakdown Combos
Moving Breakdown Combos
Combo Moves
Crossover
Moving Between Legs Crossover
Behind-the-Back
Spin
Hesitation
Stepback
Hesitation Escape
Crossover Escape
Between Legs Escape
Behind-the-Back Escape
Misdirection Hesitation
Misdirection Crossover
Misdirection Behind-the-Back
Hesitation Crossover Combo
Double Crossover Combo
Behind-the-Back Launch
Stepback Crossover
Lateral Stepback
Moving Cross Spin
In-and-Out
Lateral Hesitation
In NBA 2K27, the Dynamic Layup Engine ensures that no two finishes at the rim look identical. As you slash through the paint and contort in mid-air, your player's physical movements dynamically reflect their signature style and finishing capabilities.
High-rated finishers benefit tremendously here: if an elite rim protector rotates to contest you, the engine can automatically adjust your finisher’s shooting hand in mid-air to maneuver the ball out of harm's way.
The Dynamic Layup Engine also helps the ball clear the rim cleanly, reducing instances where the ball would clip the bottom of the rim or the backboard.
Advanced layup gathers and finishes—like hop-steps, Euro Steps, and spins—are now separate components rather than preset animations. The system uses real-time logic to pair gathers and finishes based on the actual matchup and on-court situation, resulting in unique animation combinations and realistic outcomes, such as easily blowing by a weak defender or getting jammed up by an elite one.
We've added an intense layer of skill to playing above the rim: ALL dunk attempts must now be manually timed using the Dunk Meter.
In NBA 2K26, the Dunk Meter didn't always reflect what happened mid-air, even when a dunker beat a defender who was in tight coverage at takeoff for an open look at the rim. For NBA 2K27, we've made the meter fully dynamic and created more realistic outcomes in the process. It now continuously evaluates defensive positioning from the moment you take off all the way through the finish.
Blow past your man with a lightning-fast first step for an open lane, and your green window will expand logically. But if a rotation helper executes a perfect late closeout to meet you at the apex of your jump, the green window will instantly tighten, forcing you to execute flawless timing to finish the slam.
Take your game to the next level with our new Advanced Controls, designed to put unprecedented precision and authentic, dynamic playmaking right at your fingertips; whether you're chaining lethal signature combos on the move, threading no-look passes, or throwing alley-oops.
Execute lethal signature combos on the move with ProPLAY® animations. Simply hold the right trigger and flick UP on the Pro Stick while driving to initiate a player's distinct signature breakdown combo without stopping your forward momentum.
Blindside the defense by holding R1/RB and flicking the Pro Stick directly toward your intended target to dish an authentic no-look pass. The passer will dynamically look off the target using head tracking technology to sell the misdirection. The passer’s Pass Accuracy rating still determines the success rate of these passes.
Completing an alley-oop is completely streamlined. The button on the controller you must press now maps to one of four directions the pass is coming from. For example, press Square/X if it’s on the left side or press Circle/B if it’s on the right side. You can also choose to flick the Pro Stick toward the ball with good timing to flush it down.
Rhythm Shooting returns as the most authentic way to mimic a traditional shooting motion using the Pro Stick, and it received some highly anticipated upgrades for 2K27.
The Shot Meter now features a real-time visual tick mark that moves in direct sync with your physical Pro Stick movement. This serves as an instant visual guide to help you master the ideal Tempo of any given jumper. The closer you match that perfect Tempo, the wider your Timing green window becomes, making it easier to knock down Excellent releases. But stay disciplined—if you rush or drag the flick of the Pro Stick, the green window shrinks, demanding absolute pinpoint precision to hit the shot.
Based on community feedback, successfully hitting a shot with Rhythm Shooting now strictly requires greening the Timing. Reworked Shot Feedback overlays will break down your attempts, telling you if your Timing was early or late, and if your Tempo was too fast or slow. This ensures you have the data needed to master a player's true rhythm.
Additionally, Rhythm Shooting has officially expanded to the free-throw line, making the transition seamless for players who shoot with the Pro Stick.
We didn't just upgrade the offensive toolset; defense in NBA 2K27 has been redesigned to give on-ball lockdowns and interior paint protectors the physical answers needed to shut down explosive offenses.
The shot contest architecture has received significant changes.
Holding UP on the Pro Stick lets you play with maximum intensity, triggering aggressive hands-up defense to suffocate a shooter's air space. The defender will automatically contest any shot attempt, maintaining verticality against contact layups or providing a slight jump contest against jump shots.
If you find yourself plagued by foul trouble, you can hold DOWN on the right stick to engage conservative hands-up defense—allowing your player to stay firmly planted, wall up, and contest without risking an unnecessary whistle.
While the traditional Block button remains your primary tool for aggressive rejections, it heavily rewards anticipation and good timing.
The improved hands-up defense is used by AI defenders as well, who can now contest shots more effectively. Additionally, AI defenders no longer surrender position as easily to triple threat stepovers by the offensive player, addressing a frequent point of feedback within the community.
By using a color-coded, eight-tier system to detail the quality of every single shot contest, the shot coverage feedback overlay is now easier to understand.
Furthermore, any defender who actively contributes to a shot contest will illuminate the Defensive Impact Indicator beneath the shooter. This indicator illustrates the severity of the contest and the direction it came from. A weak, late contest will reflect as a small white arc, while an elite, suffocating contest will instantly flash as a large crimson arc—helping you understand the underlying logic behind every single miss.
Historically, snapping a defender's ankles was a chance-based outcome.
In NBA 2K27, Ankle Breakers are skill-based and logic-driven for the first time. The system monitors a defender’s real-time momentum to determine if they are properly reacting to a ball-handler’s sudden change of direction. If a ball-handler hits a hard cross and catches a reaching defender pulling their momentum the wrong way, the likelihood of a true ankle-breaker increases drastically.
A defender's ratings will determine how tightly they need to mirror the ball-handler, and whether or not they possess the raw agility to recover if they guess wrong.
Expanded in NBA 2K27, the defensive cutoff mechanic gives you a counter to explosive lateral dribble moves and escape combos. Designed to create intense one-on-one battles, this upgraded system empowers skilled defenders to match the offense step-for-step, clamping down and completely stonewalling even the most elusive ball handlers.
To shut down driving lanes, you now have two distinct cutoff options: flick the right stick for a quick one-step cutoff, or hold R2/RT while flicking the right stick to cover more ground with a larger, lunging step. Powered by your player's Speed and Agility ratings, successfully timing these cutoffs to force a body-up collision will drain the ball handler’s Adrenaline and potentially force a fumble or picked up dribble, making it a highly effective tool for wearing down the opposition.
We’ve refined steals and ball security with a new collision system to reward disciplined, physical defense and strategic dribbling in traffic. Upgraded steal targeting prevents defenders from making awkward, unrealistic reaches, and larger defenders with low Steal ratings can no longer rely on cheap bump steals.
Ball handlers can lose control of the ball and still recover it. The system is designed to reward defenders who play disciplined, physical defense with good positioning, and encourage dribblers to be decisive with their moves in traffic.
Last, but certainly not least, NBA 2K27 introduces a revamped Takeover system built around the five disciplines: Shooting, Finishing, Playmaking, Defense, and Rebounding. You can unlock and equip a different Takeover Ability for each of these five disciplines.
Each discipline is tracked independently throughout the course of a game via dedicated meters in your HUD. These meters will go up and down in real time based on your active performance on the floor. If you're cold from the field, your Shooting ratings will take a penalty, but if you're anchoring the paint, your Defensive meter will surge. The tiers scale across six levels:
Frozen
Cold
Neutral
Warm
Hot
Takeover
This system means you could even be hot in multiple categories simultaneously. For example, if you’re breaking ankles, dishing out assists, and getting buckets in the paint, you could have both Blur and Airspace active at the same time.
When a discipline’s meter is maxed out, its equipped Takeover Ability activates automatically. A timer displays exactly how long each active ability will last. Because each ability features a different duration, you will need to choose wisely to maximize your playstyle and completely impose your will on the competition.
Takeover games in NBA 2K27 with 24 different Takeover Abilities, allowing you to maximize your talent on either end of the floor.
Shooting
Shot Artist: Enhances ability to make Off-Dribble shots.
Calibrated: Enhances ability to make Set shots.
Zip Code: Extends ability to make shots from Deep.
Default: Considerable boost to Shooting attributes when in Takeover.
Finishing
Inside Touch: Enhances ability to make Standing layups.
Navigator: Enhances ability to make Driving and Advanced layups (euros, hops, spins).
Detonator: Enhances ability to make Standing dunks.
Airspace: Enhances ability to make Driving dunks.
Paint Surgeon: Enhances ability to make Post Hooks, Fades, and win matchups in the post.
Default: Considerable boost to Finishing attributes when in Takeover.
Playmaking
Blur: Enhances ability to blow by defenders and win body-up matchups.
Cook: Increases chances of successful ankle breakers.
Dishmaster: Increases boosts to pass recipient’s Finishing and Shooting attributes.
Default: Considerable boost to Playmaking attributes when in Takeover.
Defense
Glue: Enhances ability to force ball pickups and fumbles.
Hawk: Activates on-ball steal attempts that can cause turnovers or force fumbles.
Rim Guardian: Increases ability to win post and off-ball post situations, and activates elite shot blocking around the rim.
Default: Considerable boost to Defense attributes when in Takeover.
Rebounding
Demolition: Increases ability to set strong screens.
Muscle: Increases ability to win successful boxouts and rebounds.
Second Chance: Instantly see shot feedback on all shots, and increase ability to make successful putbacks.
See the Future: Shows you where missed shots will land ahead of time.
Default: Considerable boost to Rebounding attributes when in Takeover.
Universal
Hydration Hero: Temporarily disables losing adrenaline and energy/turbo. Hydration Hero can be equipped in any of the five Takeover Ability discipline slots.
This year, we've improved our AI logic to ensure that computer-controlled teammates and opponents operate with a realistic basketball IQ. From pushing the pace in transition to executing complex defensive rotations, the AI in NBA 2K27 is designed to read, react, and attack.
To perfectly capture the speed of the modern NBA, the AI has been designed to capitalize on early offense, rather than waiting to set up traditional plays.
Even during dead periods as the ball passes through the net, players immediately begin organizing into their spacing lanes to spark early offense thanks to new spacing lane logic. Following a made basket, both the inbounder and the ball-handler will sprint up the floor. If a rim runner is open, the AI is programmed to actively look for the slashing player.
In previous years, the AI would halt its attack if it met an even number of defenders in transition. Now, high-pace AI will continuously probe the defense for scoring opportunities. High-tempo teams will actively seek out earlier shots, sometimes pulling the trigger with 17 seconds still left on the shot clock.
We’ve introduced Set AI, a new framework designed to help superstar players become the true hub of the offense—just like they are in real life.
Rather than calling random plays, the AI coordinates specific offensive actions and positions to consistently put your defense in compromising situations, keeping elite facilitators like Nikola Jokić highly involved.
Scorers can be moved to different positions within a set to play varying roles depending on the specific team and situation. Teams will selectively deploy these sets based on context, such as opening or closing a quarter, battling in tight games, or breaking out of a scoring slump.
New Set AI updates will be made in NBA 2K27 throughout the year.
When playing with AI, new play art will offer more insight into what your teammates are doing. Above your teammate’s head, you’ll notice a notification that communicates your teammate’s action or position. For example, a pop-up will appear when they’re cutting, posting up, have a mismatch, or they’re open. This offers further clarity when running play actions, like Isos or Handoffs.
While our adaptive system has always made player-level adjustments, 2K27 introduces team-level offensive gameplans. The AI tracks efficiency in real-time, allowing teams to shift toward star-focused, aggressive plans, and dynamically revert to other options if the defense shuts them down. It actively evaluates matchups from game to game, forcing touches to exploit favorable defensive liabilities.
The Pick-and-Roll is a key play in every offense, and the AI now has a massive, highly intelligent bag of tricks to dissect your coverage.
Leveraging ProPLAY®, AI effectiveness on hand-off plays received a boost, utilizing authentic pitch passes to create fluid offensive motion.
Pick-and-roll pocket passing has been improved to create better angles, use alley-oops more thoughtfully, and push the tempo off ball-screens to force defenders into split-second decisions.
Elite ball-handlers will actively hunt for perimeter isolations or mismatches in the post. If a player is in "hunt behavior," they will isolate their preferred matchup and attack instantly. Furthermore, the AI will repeatedly call for screens to target poor or smaller defenders, exploit soft hedge coverages, and engineer the exact shot they want, either through specific plays or freelance spacing.
We didn't just upgrade the AI's offensive toolset; we've enhanced our defensive rotation logic to provide more intelligent coverage on the other end of the floor.
Defenders now make complex decisions, offering fluid coverage rather than rigidly rotating to stationary spots. Rotators actively evaluate their matchups and help targets, adjusting their off-ball pressure as players move around the court.
The new rotation engine enhances the AI's spatial awareness, giving them an improved ability to read the floor and play the passing lanes.
Our previous matchup switching was limited in how it evaluated defender types. For 2K27, we have doubled the number of recognizable defender types. The system now holistically evaluates all attributes, tendencies, and badges to make the smartest possible switching and matchup selections.
Gameplay in NBA 2K27 provides more balance and versatility to deliver a fundamentally more rewarding experience on every single possession.
We’ve put the power entirely in your hands, eliminating the bailouts and rewarding pure basketball IQ. It's time to compete at the highest level and make an undeniable impact with skill-based features that were explicitly designed to separate the greats from the best.
Download the NBA 2K HQ app, fully integrated with NBA 2K27’s social features, to stay connected with your Crew and keep your head in the game.
To hear more from the Visual Concepts team, submit your questions now for the developer Q&A on the official NBA 2K Discord.