NBA 2K25 promises to shake up two core systems of MyPLAYER: badges and takeovers. These directly impact performance, so to get the most out of your MyPLAYER build, you'll want to understand exactly how the new badges and takeovers work in NBA 2K25.

2K’s goal this year seems to be to balance quality and quantity. Badges, for example, have always been big, but often players resort to just a few that are clearly better than others. NBA 2K25’s new systems attempt to address this disparity by directly tying badges and takeovers to actions and performance on the court.

There will be 40 badges in NBA 2K25, and how effective each badge is for your MyPLAYER build depends on your base stats and actions on the court. The more you equip a badge, the faster you’ll level it up. The leveling system is expanding with a new tier above Hall of Fame called Legend, but the grind can be alleviated with Badge Elevators and Cap Breakers. Badge Elevators can level up a badge, while Cap Breakers remove the hard cap on attributes that would otherwise limit your badge pool. Badge Perks and Performance Multipliers make a return from 2K24.

Takeovers in NBA 2K25 are also heavily dependent on player performance. There will be a total of 72 takeovers and 14 takeover abilities, each of which focuses on a different set of attributes. The numbers don’t stop there, as there are five levels of takeovers, with level one being the lowest and level five being the highest. Performing well on the court will fill your takeover meter and increase your respective attributes as you level up. The real dominance comes at level five, when you can unlock takeover abilities and truly take over the game yourself.