If you’ve ever spent a good amount of time playing online in the Neighborhood or Pro-Am, you know that a good build is necessary. But some builds are better than others, so I spent some time making a few in the new demo. Here are the best build for each position in NBA 2K21.
Point Guard – Playmaking Shot Creator
| Skill Breakdown | Playmaking & Shooting split |
| Physical Profile | Highest Speed |
| Set Your Potential | 2 Finishing, 22 Shooting, 22 Playmaking, 6 Def/Reb |
| Height | 6’3” |
| Weight | 170lbs |
| Wingspan | 75.0” |
| Takeover | Shot Creator |
You’ll want to choose the pie chart with the most yellow and green in it for this build. It’ll give you the most Playmaking and Shooting badges without one being too high or too low.
For the Physical Profile, simply choose the chart with the highest speed and acceleration, since that’s what you’ll be needing for the best Point Guard build in NBA 2K21. Strength and Vertical don’t matter here.
When setting your Potential, you’ll want to max out your mid-range and three-point shots, and your pass accuracy and ball handle first.
The rest of the points can be distributed depending on where you want more badges. I put a bit more in defense so that I wasn’t completely useless on that end. The image above should help as a guide.
Height should generally be between 6’2” and 6’4” for this build, and your Weight and Wingspan should be the lowest possible to add more points to Shooting.
Your Takeover in NBA 2K21 should be either Shot Creator or Playmaker for this build, depending on if you want to be more of a scorer or a passer that sets up teammates.
Shooting Guard – Sharpshooting Facilitator
| Skill Breakdown | Most Shooting |
| Physical Profile | Highest Speed |
| Set Your Potential | 1 Finishing, 30 Shooting, 14 Playmaking, 8 Def/Reb |
| Height | 6’5” |
| Weight | 175lbs |
| Wingspan | 83.4” |
| Takeover | Spot Up Shooter |
Choose the pie chart with the most green, and the Profile with the highest speed for this one. This is pretty much a pure sharpshooter build with a decent amount of Playmaking and Def/Reb badges.
As for the Potential, you’ll want to put enough points into Shooting to get 30 badges. Then, fill up close shot, driving layup, pass accuracy, and ball handle. Put enough into Playmaking to get 14 badges.
The rest goes into Def/Reb so that you can defend other Shooting Guard builds well enough without getting torched every time down the court in NBA 2K21.
The Height, Weight, and Wingspan can be set to your preference in this one, as long as they don’t lower Shooting.
Small Forward – Slashing Playmaker
| Skill Breakdown | Most Playmaking |
| Physical Profile | Highest Speed |
| Set Your Potential | 3 Finishing, 9 Shooting, 25 Playmaking, 10 Def/Reb |
| Height | 6’6” or 6’7” |
| Weight | 220lbs |
| Wingspan | 84.3” |
| Takeover | Playmaker or Lockdown Defender |
For this one, you’ll want the pie chart with the most yellow in it as well as the Profile with the highest speed.
For the Potential, this NBA 2K21 build mostly focuses on Playmaking and Def/Reb, with a bit of Finishing and Shooting.
Firstly, you’ll want to max everything in the Def/Reb category, along with ball handle, mid-range and three-point shooting, and the top three categories in Finishing.
This should give you a ton of Playmaking badges with a good amount of Def/Reb and Shooting options.
The Height should be between 6’5” and 6’7”, depending on if you want a huge boost to Shooting and Finishing at the expense of Def/Reb. Weight should be low enough to get you to 90 Speed, but you can go lower if you want more than that.
And finally, you’ll want either the Playmaker, or Lockdown Defender Takeover for this NBA 2K21 build. Playmaker is better for iso players, while Lockdown is used for anyone who wants to shut down opponents.
Power Forward – Paint Beast
| Skill Breakdown | Most Def/Reb |
| Physical Profile | Agility, Strength, Vertical all equal |
| Set Your Potential | 16 Finishing, 1 Shooting, 6 Playmaking, 30 Def/Reb |
| Height | 6’8” or 6’9” |
| Weight | 266lbs |
| Wingspan | 90.0” |
| Takeover | Glass Cleaner |
You’ll want to pick the pie chart with the most Def/Reb for this build. The Profile with three equal parts will give you good stats for Vertical, Speed, Strength, and Acceleration.
When setting you Potential, you’ll first want to max out everything in Def/Reb, along with the first four attributes in Finishing. The rest goes into Playmaking, taking a few points from Def/Reb to get it up to six badges.
Changing the Height to 6’8” here can give you significant boosts to your Physicals and lateral quickness, but if you’re happy with the stats as they are, stick with 6’9”.
Increase you Weight until your Strength hits 92, then make your Wingspan the highest it can go to get insane boosts in Finishing and Def/Reb.
Lastly, go with the Glass Cleaner Takeover to become a monster on the boards. Any missed shot in NBA 2K21 will be yours with this build, and you’ll finish up the play, no problem.
Center – Glass-Cleaning Lockdown
| Skill Breakdown | Def/Reb and Shooting split |
| Physical Profile | Agility, Strength, Vertical all equal |
| Set Your Potential | 5 Finishing, 19 Shooting, 1 Playmaking, 21 Def/Reb |
| Height | 6’9” or 7’0” |
| Weight | 265lbs |
| Wingspan | 91.0” |
| Takeover | Glass Cleaner or Rim Protector |
For this final build, choose the pie chart that’s evenly split between Def/Reb and Shooting, along with the equally distributed Profile.
For your Potential, you’ll want to max out the Shooting and Def/Reb attributes first. Then, start filling up Finishing, taking some points from Def/Reb to get it to five badges.
You can either leave your Height as is, or set it to 6’9” to get a boost in Shooting stats. Set you Wight to 265lbs to get some interior defense points, too.
Wingspan should be the maximum if you want some Def/Reb points, but you can set it to the minimum to get another Shooting boost.
The Takeover is honestly up to you on this one. Pick whichever one you like more between Glass Cleaner and Rim Protector.
It’s a lot, but that’s everything you need to know about which build is best for each position in NBA 2K21. If you’ve already decided to get the game based on the trailers and the demo, you can pre-order it here.
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