Review: NBA 2K26 (Switch 2)

Of all the sports games available to us, I’ve always preferred basketball. This is despite the fact I don’t care to watch the actual game—it’s too squeaky and harshly lit. But I still play Super Pro Basketball on the Intellivision, and I’m now enjoying NBA 2K26 on the Switch 2.

This involves dealing with some flaws that I’ll address up front. First, the game doesn’t really look all that great on the Switch 2. I’m fine with it only running at 30fps, which it does smoothly and consistently. I’m not fine, however, with the blurry appearance. NBA 2K26 doesn’t look bad, but I could never shake the feeling that the developers were focused on something other than visuals.

And that “something other” may have been ads. You’re constantly pressed to spend more money on a game that will have already set you back $70 (on sale for $49 at press time). It’s almost as annoying as the gambling-app ads in actual sports broadcasts. And this is going on in an already extremely cluttered UI. Is NBA 2K26 the product or the commercial for the product?

Once you’re able to focus within the din, however, you’ll discover a game that’s quite fun to play. It helps that 2K doesn’t assume you’ve been playing the series forever, offering a helpful and enjoyable tutorial. I played quite a few sports in my youth, and basketball was the only one that was fun to practice. That carries over here, so learning ball-handling, shooting, defending, etc. doesn’t feel like a necessary evil to get you up to speed. And if that’s taking longer than you’d like, you’re able to adjust the AI skill level in multiple ways to make sure you’re not embarrassing yourself.

If I had that ability in real life, I may have continued playing for the Arrows beyond 7th grade.

After you’ve learned (or reacquainted yourself with) the basics, hopping into Play Now is the best way to see how fun the game can actually be. I spent a while here playing in both the NBA and WNBA, continuing to view it all as practice. But it wasn’t long before I was able to quickly utilize the skills I’d been taught and rack up some wins. Again, it helps that the game is so active and quickly paced, forcing you to repeat the necessary button combos until they’re second nature. NBA 2K26 is a surprisingly easy game to learn despite its controller complexities.

This makes the game rewarding, too. Basketball is a sport of chest-thumping, and that carries over into the video-game world. Unfortunately, Switch 2 players will mostly be relegated to boasting over AI opponents; there wasn’t a lot of activity online when I checked. Hopefully, you’ll have buddies you can meet up with for pick-up games if single-player action isn’t your thing.

If not, NBA 2K26 gives you plenty of historical data and gameplay modes to keep you entertained even on your own.

My Career allows you to create a player and take him/her from obscurity to the pros, but you’re required to be online to do it. Also, be ready to either spend time grinding or to dump more money into the game. This feels invasive and unnecessary to me. Have younger gamers become accustomed to it?

There’s the MyGM mode that turns the game into more of a team management sim than an arcade-sports sim. MyNBA takes this even further, allowing you to oversee league decisions, staff salaries, training schedules, etc. for multiple eras of the sport. These features aren’t for basketball fans, they’re for basketball nuts. Managing a sports league (or even a team) isn’t why I play video games, but there’s a lot of depth here for those willing to dive in.

And again, that’s good because it means you don’t have to bother with online play and microtransactions to get your (already exorbitant) money’s worth. As mentioned, it’s not too hard to get up to speed, allowing you to show off quickly against the AI or a local multiplayer opponent.

I’m sure NBA 2K26 is better on other platforms. It would have to be. If you have access to those systems, stay there; the ability to play in handheld mode isn’t worth the visual downgrade (especially considering it’s well nigh impossible to read some of the text on the Switch 2 screen). I wonder if the developer, Visual Concepts, will get the Switch 2 figured out in time for NBA 2K27 and provide us with better visuals and performance. It may be worth holding out just to see if they do, as dropping $70 a year into this franchise doesn’t make much sense, especially considering all the money 2K hounds you for every time you boot it up.

I no more want to deal with that than I’d want to deal with carnival barkers on my way to a pickup game at the park.

But I do, because when you actually make it to the court, NBA 2K26 is fun…squeaks and all.