NBA 2K26 new rebound timer is an example of the game's larger problem

USA Today

a day ago

I can't remember the exact year I stopped playing the NBA Live video game series. It was either NBA Live 06 or NBA Live 07. That part is less important than the feeling I had when I stopped playing, which I remember quite well.
That feeling, when I finally decided enough was enough, was one of disappointment... disgust. I was viscerally upset at the game EA Sports delivered that year -- in a series I had been playing from childhood. I spent my hard-earned money (which wasn't much for someone in college at the time) on garbage.
That was the last time I bought an EA basketball game. I've been playing the NBA 2K series ever since.
That's why it brings me great disappointment to say, 20 years later, I'm now having the same feelings about NBA 2K. As the latest installment, NBA 2K26, is set to release on Sept. 5, the series has been on a downward trend for several years now. A gameplay clip of the new game that surfaced last week has me convinced that trend is a lock to continue.
The caption alone, with the words "greening a rebound," did irreparable damage to my psyche. I almost thought it was a joke... until I clicked play and saw that god-forsaken ring light up under the rebounder. This had to be created by AI, right? Nope. I went to the 2K26 website, and sure enough, the new feature had a section: "New Rebound Timing Feedback."
I'm sorry, but what?? This is worse than when they added timed layups a few years ago and every fast-break turned into a rebounding drill. Who asked for this? Better yet, what if I "red" a rebound with a seven-footer directly under the basket? Will a Bronny James-sized player on the other side of the rim get it over me because he "greened" his jump? I have questions.
Look, in the micro, this is a small thing that won't likely mean much in how most people play the game. Any good player timed their jump on rebounds anyway. But in the big picture, this is just another of those changes nobody asked for that's adding to the complexity of a game that really isn't fun anymore. And that's before we get to the micro-transactions everyone hates.
This was the same trap NBA Live fell into. That game sacrificed its fun gameplay in pursuit of superior graphics. It became a good-looking game that played horribly, and it all happened in basically one year. In the case of 2K, it's been a years-long deterioration as the developers experiment with giving users more control over everything. Which has probably been more frustrating than Live's decline because, with no alternate options on the market (for now), we come back each year hoping for something better.
That hope was at an all-time low with 2K26 before I saw the rebounding clip. Even accounting for the fact I'm probably too washed to keep up with the changes, there are so many other gameplay-related things that could've been addressed before I ever would've suggested that. Maybe they got around to those too. I'll keep my eyes peeled for more clips that can maybe change my mind. I'm not very hopeful.
Spurs extend De'Aaron Fox
The San Antonio Spurs have reportedly signed De'Aaron Fox to a four-year, $229 million extension that will keep the point guard with the team through at least the 2029-30 season. After drafting Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper over the last two years, the Spurs now have obvious questions about how to fit all three guards around Victor Wembanyama.
Bryan Kalbrosky took a stab at answering that question, which includes potentially playing them all at the same time:
"We don't know how the group will fare with Harper in the mix as well, but they will have plenty of time to experiment with that this season. Fortunately for the Spurs, neither Castle nor Harper is undersized, so it is entirely possible that it could work out that all three could play together.
Perhaps by the end of Fox's extension, it is incredibly obvious that the right mix for San Antonio involves involves Harper and Castle as their starting one and two. By then, maybe they will have to trade Fox and clear up that log jam."
This sounds like a good problem to have. If nothing else, San Antonio's overloaded backcourt gives them a trade chip for down the line.
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