NBA 2K's customizable MyPlayer is more than any other sports game, and in fact, the annual draw is more than MyTeam or Season mode. Custom players receive badges that give them skills in different aspects of the player's game, such as shooting and defense. This year's game – only in new-gen releases – reimagines the badge system you may be familiar with in the three-tiered system, where tier 1 badges cost less but also offer the smallest boosts. From there, each layer becomes more efficient and more expensive. Visual Concepts says the idea behind this new system is that you have to equip a certain number of badges at lower levels before you can equip badges at higher levels.

This is to make players make tougher choices when deciding which characters to equip, adding balance to game modes where multiple custom players interact together, such as the game's social hub, the city. In addition to tiers, there are new "Basic" token slots that allow you to place one token for each skill area: Finishing, Shooting, Playmaking, and Defense/Bouncing. Base tokens do not count towards your total score, but can only be placed in the base token slot after the corresponding challenge has been completed.

Here is the complete list of 20 new, changed, and 12 completely removed tokens for 2K23.

Finishing

• Slippery – makes it easy to assemble during traffic, avoiding collisions and streaks

• Masher – Increases the ability to finish passes inside defenders

• Bully – Like Giannis and LeBron, able to finish strong by shoveling through traffic

• Removed: Specialist Hook

shooting

• Factor 3 – Ability to hit difficult 3PT shots from dribbling

• Middy Magician – The ability to defeat mid-range jumpers when rebounding or out of position has been improved as MJ

• Amped – Reduces shooting feature penalties for fatigue and excessive movement before shooting

• Claymore – Increases the ability of a point-and-shoot shooter to bring down jumpers and snap shots the longer they stay stationary before shooting

• Comeback Kid – The ability to shoot peripheral ball players has been improved when you are late to the game

• Hand Down Man Down – Makes the outdoor shooter more deadly if the opponent fails to get a hand in the face

• Space Creator – Previously the badge of the gameplay industry, now it enhances the ability to hit jumpers and stunt jumpers, it will also stumble defenders more often

• Limitless Range – An old favorite, makes shooters more effective with any shot attempt from a deep 3-PT range

• Removed: Chef, Hot Zone Hunter, Lucky #7, Mismatch Expert (moved to Playmaking section), Set Shooter, Sniper, Limitless Spot-Up

Toy Industry

• Killer Combos – Improves dribbling effectiveness with larger dribbling moves (serves as a combination of fast chain badges and last year’s tight grips)

• Clamp Breaker – Helps ball handlers win more 1-on-1 body crash matches (Clamps Showdown)

• Vice Grip – Improves ball security immediately after securing, catching, or catching a bouncing ball.

• Mismatch Expert – Formerly an archery badge, this badge now helps smaller guards smash taller defenders when mismatches one on one

• Removed: Bullet lane, incline, glue hands, stop and go

Defense / Recoil

• Anchor – A critical badge of the last line of defense, improving the ability to block and counter shots in the paint

• Boxout Beast – Helps bounce players win boxing fights in both offensive and defensive bounces

• Work Horse – Pat Bev badge that boosts your ability to tap balls by 50/50 and play solid defense without getting tired

• The Gauntlet – Named after legendary defender Gary Payton, it helps you strip players as they gather to shoot and take the ball out of the defenders’ hands.

• Challenger – improves the effectiveness of ocean shot competitions

Removed: Defensive Leader

While a seasoned NBA 2K player can reasonably infer the full roster of 2K23 characters based on what's missing from this list, and its removal hasn't been announced since last year's game, we've refrained from creating such a list for now. In the event that the team has not yet reached the final result. More changes are likely to come, but so far we've only learned about it when we talked to the 2K team. When we can share the full list, you'll find it when the game launches on the 8th. September, you'll see it here, so bookmark this page as we prepare to report.

For more information on NBA 2K23, check out our NBA 2K News feature or NBA2King. In addition, NBA2King offers abs for NBA 2K23 MT.