NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Beginner’s Guide

In this NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Beginner’s Guide, we’ll help new and returning players understand how the mode works. MyCAREER mode lets you follow your MyPLAYER’s journey from his High School Days and into his NBA career. However, there’s a lot to know about the mode early on that can help players in the long run. For reference, this guide will cover the MyCAREER experience for New-Gen Systems (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC).

NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide

In this NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide, we’ll cover the main areas you should familiarize yourself with.

Building your MyPLAYER – NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide

In order to begin your NBA 2K26 MyCAREER you first need to create your MyPLAYER. While the process seems complex, Visual Concepts has made it easier to use over the years. You can create a player from scratch if you like. But newcomers can also select from real NBA Player Builds, or Pro Builds created by the community.

So, if you know you want to play like Steph Curry, choose his build. You can still customize it, too, if you want to make a few changes.

When creating a custom player build, you can edit their height, weight, wingspan, and attributes. Where you allocate your points is entirely up to you, but I recommend spending some on physical traits like:

• Speed – How fast the runs or sprints without the ball
• Agility – How fast the player can accelerate, move in short bursts, and move laterally without the ball
• Strength – Determines who wins contact battles. Additionally, helps dictate how successful the player will be when backing down or being backed down in the post (with or without the ball)
• Vertical – Gate for dunk animations, and in combination with attribute counterparts, allows a player to jump higher on rebounds and blocks

All players, regardless of their position, should focus on Speed, Agility, and strength. This helps you move faster, win more contact battles, and prevents getting backed down on the post. However, Centers and Dunk-enthusiasts should consider increasing their Vertical skill, too. This allows them to jump higher on rebounds and blocks

Furthermore, you should also be aware of badges. Depending on your player’s height, weight, and wingspan, you’ll gain (or lose) access to new badges. There’s a wide variety of badges in the game, with different ranks indicating how powerful it is:

• Bronze
• Silver
• Gold
• Hall of Fame (Purple)
• Legend (Red)

Before finalizing your build, make sure to see what badges you have, or will have over time. Fortunately, NBA 2K26 lets you test your build before finishing your creation.

Furthermore, feel free to scan your face to use in the game. Learn how you can do so with the NBA 2K Companion app.

Play “Out of Bounds” – NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide

When you first begin your MyCAREER, you’ll technically begin your “Out of Bounds” experience. This episodic narrative follows MP ‘s (your MyPLAYER) from High School all the way to the big leagues.

Overall, Out of bounds features 11 total missions, 10 of which offer various rewards. Personally, I think it’s important just to earn the VC rewards on your first playthrough. You can always come back when your OVR is better and tackle these missions again.

Furthermore, Out of Bounds features branching paths you can take. For example, you can play for the Union Elite or High Flyas after participating in Dion’s Open Run. Later on, you have the choice of playing in France or Spain for a year as you build up your tape.

These choices are purely cosmetic, and the challenges and rewards for the campaign stay the same. The only difference is you might earn some different jerseys by playing in one place over another.

Playing Out of Bounds is a great way to earn some VC, which you can spend on your MyPLAYER.

Explore The City – NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide

The City returns to NBA 2K26, and your MyPLAYER can do a bunch of things here before even visiting The Arena:

• Ronnie 2K
• Art of Shooting Gym
• Gatorade Training Facility
• The Track

Of course, The City also offers a bunch of online courts and modes to play in. But by the time you enter them, you probably won’t need this guide. Some modes include Pro-Am, The REC, Theater, MyPARK, and many others.

However, you actually don’t need to do anything in The City if you just want to play MyCAREER. However, keep them in mind and try to visit on occassion if you can. Personally, I just visit the places we listed above like the Art of Shooting Gym and the Gatorade Training Facility

Career Beginnings & The Arena – NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide

Before beginning your official NBA career, your agent will meet with you and ask about your goal for the season. This goal impacts the key games for the season. For example, I chose a goal that would see my MyPLAYER outperform the rookies in the draft. Either way, feel free to choose whichever goal seems fun to you.

When you’re all set, head to the Arena to begin your NBA Career. Here, there’ll be variety of things you can do before stepping out onto the court.

Depending on who drafted you, you may need to fight for a starting position. Overall, this means you need to outperform the player ahead of you in terms of Teammate Grade for two games. Overall, this isn’t too difficult, but check out the gameplay

Furthermore, you’ll often meet with media personnel throughout the season. Here, your answers can influence your fan rating, or team chemistry. Again, neither decision here really matters, though I love giving shoutouts to my teammates whenever possible.

Furthermore, in The Arena is the Team Practice Facility. Here, you can participate in a quick scrimmage and practice some drills. Overall, it’s good to visit the Facility often to advance your progression in the league.

Gameplay – NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide

Every MyPLAYER in NBA 2K26 begins with a 60 OVR. Now, unless you bought the All-Star Edition of NBA 2K26 (which comes with 100,000 VC), it will take time to improve your player. Therefore, it’s understandable if you struggle early on.

Fortunately, NBA 2K26 has a variety of difficulties to choose from. While Pro is the default, you can lower the difficulty to make things easier for you. However, be aware that the difficulty you choose impacts the amount of VC you earn:

• Rookie – 30% VC & 75% MyPOINTS modifier
• Semi Pro – 60% VC & 85% MyPOINTS modifier
• Pro – 100% VC & 100% MyPOINTS modifier
• All-Star – 120% VC & 120% MyPOINTS modifier
• Superstar – 140% VC & 135% MyPOINTS modifier
• Hall of Fame – 160% VC & 150% MyPOINTS modifier

Personally, I recommend keeping the difficulty on Pro, and then adjusting it over time, depending on your skill level. Furthermore, you can also adjust quarter lengths, meaning you can make games longer to give yourself more opportunities.

Additionally, because your rating will be so low, try not to play aggressively. Don’t take risky shots, make sure to pass often, and set up screens and assists for your teammates. As your ratings improve, and as you unlock more badges, the difference will feel like night and day between a 60 OVR and a 70 OVR, so on and so forth.

Earning VC & MyPOINTS – NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide

VC is the most important currency in NBA 2K26. You must spend it carefully, whether in MyCAREER or MyTEAM. Unless you use real money to buy VC, I recommend dedicating all of your VC into just one mode (like MyCAREER).

Check out our guide on how to earn VC for more info, but here’s a quick rundown on where you can earn it:

• Playing MyCAREER Games (includes scoring, assists, etc)
• Redeeming certain locker codes
• Answering questions in 2KTV
• Completing quests in MyCAREER
• Online games & limited-time events
• Pro Pass Premium Rewards
• Purchasing VC separately.

In MyCAREER, you can earn VC by playing in games. Overall, good teammate grades with lots of points and assists typically nets you a lot of VC. Of course, the quarter length and difficulty affect how much you earn. But if you’re dropping 40 points a game with a healthy amount of assists, steals, and more, you’ll see the gains quickly pile up.

Furthermore, in order to increase your max potential OVR in MyCAREER, you need to earn MyPOINTS. These points are earned after playing games, and when you earn enough, you increase your Max OVR by 1. So even if you bought a ton of VC, you still need to earn MyPOINTS to even upgrade your player to 99.

Season Pass & Double XP Tokens – NBA 2K26 MyCAREER Guide

As you play MyCAREER, you earn XP, which goes towards unlocking rewards in the Season Pass. NBA 2K26’s Free Season Pass offers up to 80 free rewards for players to earn. Additionally, the developers offer a paid Premium Pass option, which offers an extra 40 rewards (including VC).

Make sure to check out this Pass often to see what rewards you earn. Some free MyCAREER rewards include Skill Boosts, Boosted Accessories, and even a Cap Breaker on New-Gen.

Furthermore, use Double XP Tokens to advance your progression in the season pass. Use these tokens before getting into an NBA 2K26 session to make the most out of them. Tokens are still activated even when you log off, so it’s best to use them as soon as you start playing.

Additionally, feel free to check out all the rewards for NBA 2K26 Season 1.

Overall, that wraps up our NBA 2K26 MyCAREER guide for Beginner’s. We hope this helped you understand how the mode works a bit more. While there’s a bit more to the mode this will at least give you basic understanding of the fundamentals.

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