NBA 2K24’s difficulty settings are a bit inconsistent. Some of you might find any difficulty under Superstar far too easy, while others find the Hall of Fame too unfair.
In Hall of Fame difficulty, your opponents make absurd shots while your AI teammates often slack on defense. This is because you are being punished on your side of the user game sliders while the CPU sliders get boosted simultaneously.
It can be different for everyone because some players might even find Superstar too difficult. With this in mind, setting your custom sliders is the best way to go.
What better way to do it than setting the game to a very realistic game slider that can mimic what you see in the NBA?
Let’s get started.
Realistic Game Slider Settings
These settings will apply to both the user and CPU as we aim to mimic how the NBA is being played on both sides of the court.
Here are the slider settings I would recommend:
| Offense | Value |
|---|---|
| Inside Shot Success | 52 |
| Close Shot Success | 52 |
| Mid-Range Success | 50 |
| 3PT Success | 50 |
| Layup Success | 50 |
| Shot Coverage Impact | 50 |
| Shot Timing Impact | 0 |
| Free Throw Window Size | 50 |
| Dunk in Traffic Frequency | 50 |
| Dunk in Traffic Success | 50 |
| Pass Accuracy | 50 |
| Alley-Oop Success | 50 |
| Contact Shot Success | 50 |
| Ball Security | 90 |
| Body-Up Sensitivity | 50 |
| Pass Speed | 50 |
| Defense | |
| Driving Contact Shot Frequency | 55 |
| Inside Contact Shot Frequency | 65 |
| Layup Defense Strength (Takeoff) | 48 |
| Layup Defense Strength (Release) | 48 |
| Jump Shot Defense Strength (Gather) | 48 |
| Jump Shot Defense Strength (Release) | 48 |
| Help Defense Strength | 50 |
| Steal Success | 50 |
| Attributes | |
| Acceleration | 50 |
| Vertical | 50 |
| Strength | 50 |
| Stamina | 58 |
| Speed | 50 |
| Durability | 50 |
| Hustle | 50 |
| Ball Handling | 50 |
| Hands | 50 |
| Dunking Ability | 50 |
| On-Ball Defense | 50 |
| Stealing | 50 |
| Blocking | 50 |
| Offensive Awareness | 50 |
| Defensive Awareness | 50 |
| Offensive Rebounding | 50 |
| Defensive Rebounding | 50 |
| Offensive Consistency | 50 |
| Defensive Consistency | 50 |
| Fatigue Rate | 48 |
| Lateral Quickness | 50 |
| Tendencies | |
| Take Inside Shots | 50 |
| Take Close Shots | 50 |
| Take Mid-Range Shots | 50 |
| Take 3PT Shots | 52 |
| Post Shots | 48 |
| Attack the Basket | 50 |
| Look for Post Players | 50 |
| Throw Alley-Oops | 50 |
| Attempt Dunks | 50 |
| Attempt Putbacks | 50 |
| Play Passing Lanes | 50 |
| Go for On-Ball Steals | 45 |
| Contest Shots | 50 |
| Backdoor Cuts | 52 |
| Fouls | |
| Over the Back Foul Frequency | 40 |
| Charging Foul Frequency | 40 |
| Blocking Foul Frequency | 40 |
| Reaching Foul Frequency | 50 |
| Shooting Foul Frequency | 55 |
| Loose Ball Foul Frequency | 50 |
| Illegal Screen Frequency | 50 |
| Movement | |
| Speed (Max rating) | 75 |
| Speed (Min rating) | 35 |
| Acceleration (Max Rating) | 75 |
| Acceleration (Min Rating) | 35 |
Sliders Breakdown
Inside Baskets
Shots in the paint are easier to finish, but the CPU will contest the shot even more. If you find this too unrealistic because of how it is to score, you can turn it to 50.
However, we also boosted the frequency of defenders guarding inside and close shots. We want to improve the efficiency of inside and close shots while also crediting the defense for not allowing easy baskets.
If you are a bit late on defense, it’ll be hard to stop the attacker from finishing cleanly at the rim.
Stamina
We boosted the Stamina attribute a lot and decreased the fatigue rate. We want all the players at full power since we are mimicking the NBA.
In the NBA, players do get tired, but this is seen more in the playoffs, where they push themselves to the limit.
I don’t recall players like Jimmy Butler getting tired all the time in a regular-season game. This is why I feel like the game punishes you too much for hitting the sprint button.
Even Kobe Bryant’s last game, where he took a whopping 50 shots at the age of 37, shows how players have more on the tank than what is seen in the game.
Kobe looked visibly tired, but he still took over at the end of the game. In NBA 2K24, your attributes fall too far off if you see that Gatorade icon.
You’ll still get tired with the settings above, but only if you really abuse the sprint button.
Tendencies
For tendencies, we slightly lowered the post shots while slightly increasing the 3PT shots. In the NBA today, we rarely see post-action, apart from Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic.
Even Rudy Gobert complained that he isn’t being used enough offensively on the post. If it was back in the 90s and you had a player who had Rudy Gobert’s size and length, you know they’d be running some low post action for him.
However, everyone is now going for the three-ball. Even the midrange is becoming a lost art somehow.
We also lowered the on-ball steals because no one really reaches in today’s NBA.
What to Do Next?
These settings cannot really be used in game modes like MyCareer, but you can use these in a quickplay match with friends or any other game mode.
You can choose the best team and start a game of MyGM/MyLeague.
You can earn some VC first in another game mode before starting your MyCareer playthrough at a very high overall rating.
