NBA 2K20 is the 21st game in the NBA 2K franchise, and it arrives with a strange split personality. Visual Concepts built the deepest basketball sim on the market, then handed it a mode that never stops asking for more.
Trailer, via XBOX.
Anthony Davis and Dwyane Wade Share the Cover
The regular edition puts Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers on the cover. The Legend Edition belongs to Dwyane Wade. That pairing tells you who 2K thinks is buying: the current fan and the nostalgic one.
Released September 6, 2019, NBA 2K20 landed on Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS and Android. Google Stadia got it on November 18, 2019. It is NBA 2K’s last 2010s entry.
The 2015-16 Cavaliers Join the Classic Teams
On the court, this is still the best basketball simulation going. Games follow real NBA rules and objectives, and the settings run deep. You can build up to six expansion teams, push a league to 36 teams, and relocate or rebrand any franchise.
Six more classic squads arrive, including the 2015-16 Cleveland Cavaliers and the 2013-14 San Antonio Spurs. The pregame and halftime shows copy the NBA on TNT set, with Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal. Kevin Harlan, Greg Anthony, Chris Webber, Steve Smith, Clark Kellogg and Doris Burke call the action. David Aldridge works the sideline. Charles Barkley is not in the halftime show.
Kevin Harlan and Doris Burke Call the Action
The broadcast booth is a full re-creation of the NBA on TNT presentation. Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Shaquille O’Neal anchor the studio segments. Smith and O’Neal also appear as players on the 1993-94 Houston Rockets and the 1994-95 Orlando Magic, the 2000-01 Los Angeles Lakers and the 2005-06 Miami Heat.
The WNBA Arrives, With a Catch
For the first time in the series, all twelve WNBA teams are in the game. Candace Parker and other WNBA All-Stars are playable.
The catch is real. WNBA teams work only in Play Now and single-season modes, and you cannot create rosters for them.
| Feature | NBA Teams | WNBA Teams |
|---|---|---|
| Play Now | Yes | Yes |
| Single-season modes | Yes | Yes |
| Roster creation | Yes | No |
| Expansion and rebranding | Yes | No |
MyCareer Returns as the Flagship
MyCareer is back, and it works the way it always has: you create a customizable player and build a career. The mode sits inside an immersive open-world neighborhood, a hub where gamers and ballers come together.
A Simulator That Fights Itself
Judged as a basketball game, NBA 2K20 is close to untouchable. The classic teams, the broadcast crew, the customization — all of it holds up. Judged as a product, it is a different story.
The WNBA addition is the most interesting thing here, and it is also the most frustrating. Twelve full teams, then locked to two modes with no roster editing. 2K gets credit for the door and deserves the criticism for the lock on it.
That lock is the detail that matters. Everything else in NBA 2K20 is polish on a formula the series had already mastered. The WNBA is the one place this entry changed what the game could be, and it changed it halfway. A first step that stops at the exhibition menu is still a first step, but 2K shipped the roster and withheld the keys.
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