While 2K makes a large portion of their profits off of NBA 2K21's players buying VC to upgrade their MyPlayer for MyCareer and online play on the park, there is a section of the NBA 2K community that enjoy building teams and trying to win championships in MyLeague and MyGM. Because MyLeague and MyGM doesn’t have microtransactions that involve real money, it seems 2K pays less attention to these modes. It’s evident in NBA 2K21’s MyLeague and MyGM modes, where minimum changes and improvements were made from NBA 2K20 to NBA 2K21.
Before the popularity of MyCareer and MyTeam, MyLeague and MyGM, which was originally one mode called Franchise Mode in older NBA 2K games, was the featured game mode of the NBA 2K franchise. Players could take over their favorite teams and play or simulate through multiple NBA seasons as if they ran the team. Players could draft players, sign free agents, hire and fire coaching staff and much more. While MyLeague and MyGM still does that today, there are inconsistencies in game logic and things that can make the modes nearly unplayable.
One major issue for many players of MyLeague and MyGM is the simulation speed on console. Players can spend hours trying to simulate multiple seasons in MyLeague and MyGM solely because of how slow the simulation is. Simulation speed is faster on PC, but the current issues on the PC version of NBA 2K21 also makes it difficult for players to enjoy the game modes. 2K Share, a feature that allows players to create and upload their own custom rosters and draft classes, hasn’t been working despite 2K patch notes stating the feature had been fixed. Despite the issues within the two game modes, players can still have variety in their MyLeague and MyGM experience. There are numerous ways to spice up gameplay and make playing MyLeague and MyGM worthwhile.
Making Variety In NBA 2K21's MyLeague & MyGM Modes
One thing that is common among NBA 2K21 MyLeague YouTubers is the implementation of challenges in MyLeague. This involves giving oneself various rules, handicaps, restrictions, or even advantages to use when building a team and playing with the goal of winning one or more championships with that team. Rules or handicaps can include being limited to players below a certain overall rating, being required to obtain a superstar player, or being challenged to win three championships in a row. Another thing players can do is utilize NBA 2K21's historic draft classes, historic teams, and all-time teams. Similar to NBA 2K21's MyTeam mode, players would be able to play with NBA legends and current NBA stars in MyLeague. The possibilities are endless.
MyGM mode can also have variety for players willing to be creative. Players can set challenges for themselves just like in MyLeague. One challenge that can potentially get gameplay all the way through NBA 2K22 is the challenge to win a championship on every team in one save file. It is possible to do. Players can resign from one General Managerial position and join another team. Likewise, players can also get fired by their governor in MyGM. Getting fired will remove players from their current team and have them select a new team to be the GM of. If players want to go the opposite route of the first challenge, they can tear the league apart and try to get fired from every NBA team.
Whatever challenge players may partake in while playing NBA 2K21's MyLeague and MyGM modes, it brings new experiences and new ways to play the game. With 2K not making many changes to MyLeague and MyGM, fans of team building have to use their imaginations in order to enjoy themselves. With the next-gen consoles releasing soon and NBA 2K21 on next-gen being said to be very different from its current-gen counterpart, players can hope for a new and improved team building experience.