Badges made their way into the NBA 2K series back in 2K11 when they weren’t even called badges and each star player carried five unique skills. Since then, this system has blossomed into the badges we know today and it has become a behemoth and a critical aspect of your success in MyCareer. Now there are so many badges that it can be hard to keep up. Legends like Michael Jordan and LeBron James have over 50 of them. No matter what kind of MyPlayer you want to create, there are badges for them. Finishing, shooting, playmaking, defense, you name it, there are a slew of options to choose from.
But with so many badges and so many popular ones, there are others that might slip through the cracks and be less popular, sometimes for good reason. However, there are others that might be considered more underrated. They’re really good but some may feel like they don’t need them or they just forget they’re even there. Here are a few of these hidden gems.
NBA 2K23: Three Badges That Are Underrated
Special Delivery
This badge is a pure playmaker’s dream. Using this one will allow you to unlock your inner Magic Johnson or Jason Williams on the court. It lets you take full advantage of flashy passes. Think of it as the Dimer badge only the boost that the shooter receives comes from your flashy pass instead of regular ones.
Now, Dimer is much more important, but there are times when flashy passes are more than just something for the highlight reel. They can throw defenders off, making it a little harder to anticipate the passes. So having this badge gives your team an extra advantage to put points on the board as long as your teammate scores, of course.
And the nice thing is, no matter what build you have, you can get this badge at bronze at least if you’re passing accuracy is 47. So, you’re a center and want to throw flashy dimes like Nikola Jokic or Arvydas Sabonis? Go for it. All in all, this a great “budget badge” that can help you facilitate in a stylish and effective way.
Pogo Stick
This badge focuses on a simple, very specific thing and that’s how quickly you can jump back up for a block after landing. This is important because we’ve all fallen for the pump fake in the paint in the Rec and Park where as soon as you land your opponent lays it in for an easy score, or worse they dunk on your head. With this badge, even if you bite on the pump, you’ll be able to quickly rise back up again to contest the standing layup or dunk attempt.
Now, this badge is not as easy to get as Special Delivery as you’ll need to have at least a 67 block or 69 offensive or defensive rebound rating for your MyPlayer. If you’re a small forward, power forward, or center then this shouldn’t be an issue. However, if you’re a point guard or shooting guard, you may or may not want to use much of your attribute points blocking or rebounding because of the positions.
However, if you made a 6-foot-9 point guard (which are insanely popular in 2K23) then chances are you probably did put enough into blocking and/or rebounding to get the Pogo Stick badge. This is not a world-beating badge by any means, but man, getting that extra jump at the right moment can lead to some strong defense. Plus, getting a stop would be a beautiful redemption story after biting at the fake.
Break Starter
Another playmaker badge, this is one that can easily get overshadowed by other great passing badges like Dimer or Needle Threader. This improves your ability to throw outlet passes after grabbing a rebound on defense. What makes this one so critical is that those passes typically lead to easy baskets.
Now, without the badge, you can still get off some accurate outlet passes. However, there are numerous times where those passes are overthrown and head out of bounds, or underthrown and easier to get picked off. With this badge, you’ll have much better luck getting those.
If you’re a big or rebounding wing like Shawn Marion (or one of those 6-foot-9 point guards), then this badge is a dream as not only are you getting boards that look good on your stat sheet and with your teammate grade, but you’ll have a chance of getting dimes as well. Even if you don’t score any points, a 15 rebound, 8 assist game looks really darn good and this badge is capable of helping you achieve that.
Bonus: Fast Twitch
Finishing badges like Posterizer, Rise Up, Masher, and Slithery are very popular in NBA 2K23. However, one badge that is notable but doesn’t feel as loved is Fast Twitch. This is essentially the offensive version of Pogo Stick. Here, you’ll speed up your standing dunk and layup attempts in the paint. This badge is great because it hardly gives the defense time to react (unless the defender is already there with you in the paint and using Pogo Stick).
Players in 2K love to go for blocks, especially in The Rec. Frankly, it’s a natural human instinct because, although you may not want to go for the block, you end up doing it anyway because our brains operate in funny but similar ways. And so, a lot of times, you’ll see basically the whole defense charge towards you as you try and rise up for a dunk or layup because most players react the same: get the block.
However, by the time anyone gets to you, the ball will be put through the net because you had the Fast Twitch badge active. Congratulations on your easy bucket. Now, of course, this doesn’t make any of us unstoppable. We can still get that shot swatted straight into NBA 2K24 but it’s still effective and keeps the defense on their toes. You need either a 67 close shot or 70 standing dunk rating to get the bronze version of this badge. If you’re a shooter, then this is easy to get, no matter the position. When setting your overall for shooting whether it’s three-point shooting or mid-range, it will automatically raise that of the close shot rating because they’re connected. And if you’re a finisher-oriented build then, well, even better.
