NBA 2K25 launched Sept. 6, starting players of its enormously popular MyCareer suite all over again in search of building a player matched perfectly to a position and the user’s play style. Alone among sports games with a single-player career and, heck, even the larger role-playing genre from which they draw, NBA 2K faces players with an uncomfortable question.
How much does my NBA 2K build cost?
This is because player progression in NBA 2K’s career mode is advanced by spending Virtual Currency, and Virtual Currency can be bought up for real money. It’s literally a pay-to-win scenario, albeit with a few gates and brakes keeping players from buying everything they want immediately.
It’s tolerated probably because 2K Sports introduced the system more than a decade ago, long before such a scheme would draw an outcry in present day. Well that, and the fact MyCareer is probably the most popular mode in a very well done series that is a global best-seller.
Still, it introduces another consideration when players are scheming up their virtual hooper’s designs: Is there a way to more efficiently level up a created superstar, or optimize undervalued traits that return more steak than sizzle?
Let’s go ahead and answer that question, both for this guide to building the best shooting guard in NBA 2K25, and the other four positions coming soon: No.
NBA 2K’s progression-and-currency system is non-linear, and continually refined year-to-year, and even altered by things such as the player’s height depending on the attribute improved. The result is that spending 100,000 Virtual Currency (the amount included with this year’s $99.99 All-Star Edition) on an out-of-the-box, 60-rated player is likely to give you a 75-rated overall baller, almost regardless of build.
Further, to immediately rank a player up to MyCareer’s starting Overall cap of 85 will cost about 190,000 VC, almost regardless of the order in which the skills are upgraded.
So while I’ll be listing costs and ratings for these builds, bear in mind they all follow the same trajectory in terms of cost. The price tags presented are just to give you an idea of what you’re getting yourself into.
Explaining some build terms
Build order is the rank, in order, of each attribute’s importance to creating this player, figuring in its cost for a player of this physical makeup. Attributes with a lower return to the OVR may appear higher in the build because they’re so cheap; attributes critical to the build may appear lower because they are so expensive.
Rating at 100,000 VC means the player’s Overall rating when the Build Order is applied evenly until 100,000 is spent. Similarly, Cost at 85 Rating is how much VC is spent when the Build Order is evenly applied until the 85 level cap is reached.
Some players like to max out their Physical attributes (Speed, Strength, Vertical, and Agility) as well as Free Throw at the beginning of the career, either because they return little to the Overall Rating or because they’re gate points for certain animations. If this is a method of role-playing or development you take, we’ve tallied the cost of this improvement separately so you know what you’re in for.
An “out of position attribute” is one that, when fully maximized under this build, does not by itself return one point to the Overall score. This is basically the dead weight in your build. We’ve broken out their cost in case players prefer to max them out early in order to focus on more important qualities later, when they are earning more VC for stronger play in their Career.
NBA 2K25’s best shooting guard build: 3-Level Scoring Threat
- Height: 6-foot-7
- Weight: 218 lbs.
- Wingspan: 6-foot-11
- Rating at 100,000 VC: 76
- Cost at 85 rating: 189,9972 VC
- Cost to max Physicals and Free Throw: 38,572 VC (69 rating)
- Cost to max out-of-position attributes: 10,982 VC
- Rating with Physicals and out-of-position attributes maxed: 72 (cost 65,723)
Best value: Speed. For this two-guard, pure speed is as essential to slashing to the rim as Strength is to finishing through contact. Best part, it upgrades the fastest as far as attributes affecting this build’s OVR. It’s also the second-cheapest to max out of this build’s most valuable attributes.
Least value: Block, though it is also very tough to stomach Defensive Rebound, which takes 31 units to upgrade before it begins to affect OVR. But Block, other than Free Throw (which never moves OVR) is the highest attribute max here that doesn’t move the needle, at 60. It’s the biggest reason the dead-weight cost of this build is five figures; the alternative would be a lower Block and an equivalently low Steal rating, making both useless for the cost savings. At least here, there’s an above average chance this stringbean’s 6-foot-11 wingspan can catch a stray shot or two.
Build order for a 3-Level Scoring Threat
- Driving Layup
- Speed
- Driving Dunk
- Speed With Ball
- Three-Point Shot
- Ball Handle
- Perimeter Defense
- Close Shot
- Free Throw
- Mid-Range Shot
- Agility
- Vertical
- Strength
- Defensive Rebound
- Pass Accuracy
- Standing Dunk
- Block
- Steal
- Offensive Rebound
- Interior Defense
- Post Control
- Tier 1 Badges Bronze: Ankle Assassin
- Tier 1 Badges Silver: Deadeye, Handles for Days, Lightning Launch, Physical Finisher, Rebound Chaser, Set Shot Specialist, Shifty Shooter, Unpluckable
- Tier 1 Badges Gold: Posterizer, Strong Handle
- Tier 2 Badges Bronze: Break Starter, Brick Wall, Immovable Enforcer, Off-Ball Pest, Pogo Stick,
- Tier 2 Badges Silver: Boxout Beast, Dimer, Paint Prodigy, Slippery Off-Ball
- Tier 2 Badges Gold: Float Game, Layup Mixmaster
- Tier 2 Badges Hall of Fame: Aerial Wizard
Why I chose the 3-Level Scoring Threat for a Shooting Guard build
NBA 2K25 has another tweak to its determinative, timing-based shooting, wherein players who are skilled at hitting their release point can more reliably drain shots with less impact from the shooting attributes. We’ll see how ratings actually affect the timing window that’s offered. Meantime, the best way to score is to get to the rim rather than heave rainbows, regardless of position.
That’s why this pure scorer leans so heavy on finishing and the size to pull it off. The driving dunk and layup attributes are supplemented by a beefier frame and strength rating to fight through contact, with an approach that uses more of the build than just a single shooting attribute like Mid-Range Shot or 3-Point Shot. Speed and Speed With Ball were also bumped, to give this two-guard (and players skilled at ballhandling moves) the means of gaining separation so that contact is unnecessary.
As a result, his secondary contributions are more moderate. Defense is slightly better than maintenance level (at the perimeter anyway), and passing largely assumes someone else is handling distribution duties, though it does have enough to draw defenders with him to the rim, to kick the ball back out to an open man from distance. Passing will be of greater importance in The City, but the the attribute’s rating here, at least, keeps this two from being just a triggerman.
Best teams for this Shooting Guard
The good news about being a scoring two is that pretty much everyone has a job available for you. The bad is that a lot of great teams have weaker shooting guards because they run the offense through other stars, or the role is largely seen as supplementary to ones more difficult to draft and develop.
So while Philadelphia (98 team overall) and Denver (95) look like great fits with SG incumbents at 76 and 73, respectively, realize that those operations run through the Sixers’ massive front line and Denver’s Nikola Jokic, respectively. Golden State, post-Klay Thompson, is another good option, and perhaps the Warriors could apply a multidimensional scorer to replace Thompson’s pure gunning from the wing.
Virtual Currency prices in NBA 2K25
These prices are the same regardless of platform (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X).
- 5,000 VC: $1.99
- 15,000 VC: $4.99
- 35,000 VC: $9.99
- 75,000 VC: $19.99
- 200,000 VC: $49.99
- 450,000 VC: $99.99
- 700,000 VC: $149.99
Featured image via 2K Sports (screen capture)
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