When you think about sports games, especially annualized ones, the “story mode” isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. Not for the players, and definitely not for the devs. And that’s okay, because it’s par for the course. Most players dive straight into online, franchise, or career-building, and that’s where they spend their time.
But over the years, NBA 2K has actually tried to shake things up several times, slipping in cinematic campaigns (for better or worse) that remained with players long after they were over. Some, however, really stuck the landing, and those stories remain with us forever. At the same time, there were a few missteps, sure, but a few were so laughably bad that they still managed to become memorialized.
MyCareer — NBA 2K17 was a fantastic story with gravity
The “Orange Juice” duo with Killmonger is my favorite, 9 years later
This was back when Michael B. Jordan was on his post-Creed rise, and when he popped up in NBA 2K17’s MyCareer mode, of course, everyone took notice. In this story mode, you played as “Pres”, a rising basketball star trying to make it to the NBA. Alongside you was Justice Young (Michael B. Jordan), your childhood best friend who was also your teammate. Look, every single NBA 2K story has been cheesy more times than we can count, but Jordan’s presence gave the story some real gravity, and I remember priding myself over just the possession of the game when my friends watched me playing the campaign on my PS4.
This dynamic duo even worked its way into the core gameplay of NBA 2K17. Since you and Justice were called “Orange Juice”, the OJ mechanic in the game would reward consistent two-man plays, resulting in improved co-ordination and finishing at the rim. It worked like a dream, and even in the campaign, Jordan’s acting chops lent a charisma to his NPC that most sports sims could only dream of. This, in my opinion, set the standard for what a celebrity-driven 2K story could and should be, and it only got better with 2K20.
Jordan Challenge — NBA 2K11
A blueprint for what WWE 2K would turn into the Showcase mode
If you know, you know. NBA 2K11 was the game that truly put NBA 2K into the superstardom stratosphere, and a huge part of that was the inclusion of Michael Jordan. Not only was he the cover star of the game, but he also got his own dedicated “Jordan Challenge” mode, and boy was that mode a genuine thrill ride from start to finish. We got to relive and rewrite his legendary career, and shoot “the shot” over Craig Ehlo, playing in the 1997 Flu Game, blazing through many other iconic moments recreated in the game.
The game forced you to hit the same shots, post the same numbers, and grind your way to the GOAT status that The Jumpman earned day in and day out over the course of his career. This was a love letter to basketball history, and one that reminded players of an entirely new generation as to why Michael Jordan is still the yardstick for greatness. More than any other story mode, 2K11’s Jordan Challenge, for me, was like getting a taste of mythology. Oh, and the core game itself being one of the greatest sports games ever made, because of its polish and animations, made the entire deal so much sweeter.
When the Lights Are Brightest — NBA 2K20
Production quality and themes like we’d never seen before in a sports game
By 2019, 2K’s story modes had significantly improved on the MyCareer front with better stories and production value, and nowhere was that more apparent than in NBA 2K20. This game brought in Hollywood A-listers like Idris Elba and Rosario Dawson for some stellar performances and deliveries, and it was LeBron James himself as executive producer on this campaign mode. Titled “When the Lights Are Brightest”, this campaign mode put you in the shoes of Che, a college player who takes a stand against exploitative coaching. The coach? Solomon Reed from Phantom Liberty, Black Superman from The Fast and Furious, Idris Elba himself. The story was definitely heavy in its themes at times, and Elba’s Coach Thomas was a stern mentor with his own layered backstory. The production value here genuinely felt like a Netflix sports drama at times, instead of just a side mode in a basketball game. To this day, I don’t think NBA 2K has even tried to tackle themes as heavy as they did in this one ever since, with identity, sacrifice, and the politics of basketball being front and center throughout the campaign. Of course, it goes without saying that since it was, at the end of the day, an NBA 2K campaign, it did come with its fair share of clunky lines and pacing issues, but when you’ve got Idris Elba chewing out the scenery in every frame he occupies, you can’t complain too much.
MyCAREER: Out of Bounds — NBA 2K26
A fresh take that never goes out of bounds into grindfest territory
The newest kid on the block, NBA 2K26’s campaign mode is easily one of the strongest the series has seen in years, although, truth be told, the bar isn’t all that high. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel in any way or form, but it decides not to, and I can’t love it enough for that. As a single-player campaign enthusiast myself, I’m glad they aren’t giving up on trying to come up with new stories and experiences for the story modes, and here, the story’s actually pretty decent. You don’t get to go to the NBA, which veers away from the usual trope of ‘making it to the league’. Instead, your character has to go overseas to prove themselves, and yeah, it does eventually lead back to the NBA, but it’s the journey that counts, right?
The objectives throughout the mode are reasonable, too, and I rarely ever felt them veering into “busywork”. The pacing is actually remarkable considering the campaigns that have come before, and Out of Bounds feels like classic 2K storytelling. It’s polished, it’s believable, and this time, it actually lands with the kind of weight it deserves. An 8/10 campaign in a great game with significant gameplay polish, I’m sure this career mode is going to be remembered for a while to come.
NBA 2K16’s Spike Lee-created story mode is painful to remember
It wouldn’t have been the worst had it not set expectations so high
If I had a dollar for every time I rolled my eyes when an announcer or character called me Freq in Spike Lee’s “Livin’ Da Dream” career mode, I could have afforded every single NBA 2K game since 2K16. The spike lee tag and the narrative-driven promise of this MyCareer mode wore out very quickly when the cutscenes dragged on too long (there was even a 13-minute one, which would have made Hideo Kojima proud), and the ‘be the story’ part turned out to be nothing but a mirage because your choices were pre-determined for you instead of you being able to choose what to do.
After picking your college, you didn’t even get a say in staying in college or announcing for the NBA, which meant that I am still angry, nine years later, about having to leave college for the NBA as Freq when my college team and I were absolutely destroying the rest of the bracket. And that pain point is doubled because the college aspect of the story mode in 2K16 was inarguably the best part about the campaign.
Once the story part of the campaign is over and the MyPlayer mode really begins in a more traditional manner, it’s year two, and you never get to play a full season with the original team you’re on as Freq. This was an ambitious story mode, but all that ambition fell flat when the characters didn’t work, the acting was terrible, and the story promised to let you make your own choices while still playing out like a movie where you barely got to decide anything. In fact, it could’ve had a saving grace had the scripted choices not been so far removed from what most players wanted to do.
NBA 2K16 is one of the greatest basketball games ever made because of just how incredible it felt at the time and how the gameplay still holds up, but its story mode is not one of the reasons that game has become immemorial.
I know the campaign isn’t why we buy 2K, but it hurts when it’s sidelined
For a franchise built on stats, dunks, and yearly roster updates with a few changes here and there to the online component, 2K sure has never been afraid to take some risks with its story modes. Sometimes those risks flopped miserably and became memes, but in the best cases, they genuinely gave us a reason to care about the story and its themes.
With NBA 2K26, the campaign mode has taken a step in the right direction, and I can only hope that future 2K games keep the pace going without experimenting wildly, messing with the frequency or vibrations of the good thing we’ve got going on (wink, wink).