NBA 2K18’s MyGM: The Next Chapter allows you to experience the life of a GM like never before, as you will be required to manage the morale and expectations of your owner, front office staff, coaching staff, and of course, your players.
Over the past many years, we have added feature after feature to our MyGM and MyLEAGUE modes. During that time, the line between the two modes became fairly blurred, in my opinion. NBA 2K18 provides you with two very unique experiences, that couldn’t be more different from each other. MyGM: The Next Chapter will be the story-based narrative described above, while MyLEAGUE will continue to live and grow as our fan-favorite franchise mode that affords the user complete customization and control over their league.
Pioneering is something that I personally enjoy doing. Delivering new experiences creates a certain energy within the development team, and from this energy, I’m confident that our foray into telling a narrative through a franchise mode will resonate with all of you. Enjoy the ride!
2017 NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement
With the ratification of the new NBA/NBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement, there were a large number of considerations for us to ponder. Supporting the new changes was never a question; our continued aim is to be fully authentic. That will never change. The following are some quick hits of changes that we have implemented to show you the breadth of our coverage of the changes, no matter how minute they may be:
–
Super Max Contracts: We all read about Steph Curry’s 5yr/$201M contract this summer. And James Harden’s 4yr/$169M extension that will pay him $228M over the next 6 years. Known colloquially as Super Max contracts, NBA 2K18 fully implements Designated Veteran Contracts and Designated Veteran Extensions, as well as Rookie Scale Extensions into the game this year.
–
Exception Amounts: The MLE will increase in value by 45% from the amounts in the 2011 CBA.
–
Rookie Scale Contracts: The Rookie Scale will be increased by 45%, with existing rookie scale contracts being amended to reflect the 45% increase (phased in over a 3-year period).
–
Minimum Annual Salary: The league minimum contract will rise by 45% starting with the 2017-18 NBA season.
–
Annual Increases: Players with ‘Bird Rights’ will now be eligible for 8% annual raises. Non-Bird players are eligible for 5% annual raises.
–
Maximum Salaries: Players will have new maximum salaries calculated using the actual Salary Cap.
–
Over-38 Rule: Formerly the Over-36 Rule (which we did not support in previous NBA 2Ks), teams are now bound to the contract restrictions of signing a player that turns 38 during the contract.
–
Stretch Provision: When a player is waived using the Stretch provision (new to NBA 2K), the team will not be able to re-sign or re-acquire the player until July 1 of the season where the contract ends.
–
Roster Minimums: Teams are now required to carry 14 players (up from 13) on the roster at all times, unless granted an exception.
–
+More: There are many more rule changes/new features supported in NBA 2K18 including New Timeout Rules, New Trading Deadline date, Player ETOs, Moratorium Period (detailed below), Two-Way Contracts (detailed below), (Ted) Stepien Rule, and more.
Authenticity is a very important word here at Visual Concepts. While some of these changes may be small in nature, the sum of their parts makes them critical to an authentic team-building experience.
G-League Integration
NBA 2K18 introduces the ability for you to send down and call-up your players using the G-League (formerly known to you as the D-League). While the G-League games themselves aren’t user-playable, the feature allows you the opportunity to provide critical game experience for your young players who aren’t getting any court time with the NBA team. Players who have received limited game time in the NBA can potentially accelerate their development as a player with a properly timed send-down. Additionally, the G-League is an excellent scouting tool for young players who might have gone undrafted in previous drafts (they will help to populate the league), as their statistical performance will be a good indicator of what type of player they can become at the next level.
Two-Way Contracts
Taking full advantage of G-League availability are Two-Way Contracts. With the ratification of the new CBA, NBA teams will now have two additional roster spots designated for players on “two-way contracts.” Always aiming for completely authenticity, NBA 2K18 fully supports this new addition to the league. Any player with three or fewer years of NBA service is eligible to sign a two-way contract. A player on a two-way contract can spend a maximum of 45 days with their NBA team (during the G-League season). Once the player has run out of NBA-days, he must spend the remainder of the season in the G-League, unless converted into an NBA minimum contract player. NBA 2K GMs would be wise to utilize this to their advantage as you can more easily keep hold of developing talent, while being able to bring the players up to the NBA team to check in on how they are progressing (and to use them as stop-gaps when injuries hit your roster).
Free Agent Moratorium
Any NBA fan knows the nearly week-long NBA Moratorium period is one of the most exciting times of the year. Rumors are flying on where free agents are going to land. Players are coming to verbal agreements with teams they intend to sign with once the moratorium is lifted. NBA 2K18 introduces a 3-day Free Agent Moratorium period prior to the start of Free Agency. While players can’t officially be signed during the moratorium, you CAN come to binding (no DeAndre Jordan moments, sorry) verbal agreements with players, whose contract offers will be finalized as soon as proper Free Agency starts. This is a fast-paced, dynamic time period that will quickly weed out teams who, as Isaiah Thomas would say, aren’t willing to bring out the Brinks truck.
International Draft Prospect Stashing
The ‘Draft-and-Stash’ is a strategy employed by a number of teams when drafting players, particularly later in the draft. NBA 2K18 introduces this feature for the first time. Select international prospects in draft classes will be flagged with the number of years they will remain ‘overseas’ before they are free from their current professional contract and are eligible to sign with your team. This will create additional intrigue in the draft as there now has to be valuation considerations with respect to how many years the player will be unavailable before he can sign. I’ve really been enjoying this particular addition to the game, as it spices up one of my favorite periods of the NBA season!
Analytics Tool
This new feature can be summed up by the following explanation: The Ultimate Research/Player Scouting Tool. As you can see from the picture, this tool allows you to plot any two data sets against each other to find outliers. For example, I can plot all of the players in the league by their MPG versus their RPG. The resulting data plot will quickly show me players who are pulling in big rebounds in little minutes, or, conversely, players who play big minutes yet are well behind the league curve in rebounding. When looking for players to fill out your roster, the information is invaluable as it allows you to pinpoint the exact player you need.
You can plot players based on raw stats, per game stats, per 36 minutes, or per 100 possessions. From there, you can reduce the data set to last 10 games, last 20 games, home games, away games, this season’s stats, last season’s stats, or total career stats. Additionally, you can create charts by setting items such as salary, age, height, wingspan, and more. This is the type of feature that you will only find in NBA 2K! We are dedicated to providing you the richest and deepest franchise experience on the market, and it’s this kind of feature that exemplifies our intentions.