Many of you would think, “A Michael Jordan build in NBA2K21? Is that even possible?”. The short answer is yes, it is possible. With our deep knowledge of the man himself, having ran a couple of experiements, and now knowing what is currently possible in NBA2K21, we can comfortably say that this is a truly incredible build.
So, if you want to try it out, please follow closely. Below, we will outline everything that you need to select, step by step, to build a Michael Jordan like player in NBA 2K21.
But, before we get into the build, we wanted to break down what we are going to cover in a little bit more detail so that all of the new players understand. Firstly, we will take a look at the different skill breakdowns. This will be followed by physical profile, attribute points allocation, body type selection, his ideal takeover, and finally, allocate all of the best badges available to create a truly incredible in-game beast.
Michael Jordan Skill Breakdown
When it comes to selecting the core skill of your player, there really are quite a few options to pick from, which will only make the decision more difficult. As you already know, even if two of the pie charts look similar, they are often not in terms of badges, which are pretty important to the overall ability of the player.
Because of that, we believe that our Michael Jordan build will be much better with HoF badges, and so, that is the reason why we are opting in for the split shooting/finishing pie-chart. Now, if you are worried about the defense aspect of things, don’t. This build will have some pretty phenomenal defending abilities at the end. Remember, we have tested everything before coming up with this article.
Michael Jordan Physical Profile
One of the reasons why we didn’t select a defensive skill breakdown above that leaned greatly towards defense, which Michael Jordan was incredible at, is because we are going to go for a physical profile that capitalizes greatly on agility and strength, with a little supplement of vertical. The reason why we are trying to keep vertical to a minimum, while maximizing the two other core physical attributes is because vertical has very little importance in this year’s game.
Michael Jordan Attribute Points
If you have followed everything to the dot so far, you should have exactly 414 attribute points that you can allocate to ‘Finishing’, ‘Shooting’, ‘Playmaking’, and ‘Defense’.
After some experimenting, below you can find the most optimal point allocation, at least in our opinion, that will get you the closest to a Lebron James build.
Shooting
| Attribute | Starting | Potential |
| Close Shot | 62 | 92 |
| Driving Layup | 57 | 88 |
| Driving Dunk | 45 | 81 |
| Standing Dunk | 45 | 45 |
| Post Hook | 48 | 66 |
Shooting
| Attribute | Starting | Potential |
| Mid-Range Shot | 51 | 79 |
| Three-Point Shot | 48 | 77 |
| Free Throw | 59 | 61 |
| Post Fade | 58 | 85 |
Playmaking
| Attribute | Starting | Potential |
| Pass Accuracy | 45 | 77 |
| Ball Handle | 44 | 77 |
| Post Moves | 34 | 34 |
Defense / Rebounding
| Attribute | Starting | Potential |
| Interior Defense | 36 | 36 |
| Perimeter Defense | 46 | 76 |
| Lateral Quickness | 46 | 75 |
| Steal | 31 | 83 |
| Block | 28 | 28 |
| Offensive Rebound | 29 | 34 |
| Defensive Rebound | 29 | 68 |
If you are a little confused with the table above, try to imagine it as it is in the game as we have done it in the exact same order so that it is easier for you to implement.
On the far left column, we have the different names of the attributes, the middle column is for the starting points before we add any of the spare attribute points, and the far right is the points that you need to take that particular skill to using your attribute points. It is that simple.
Michael Jordan Body Type
When it comes to Michael Jordan’s body shape, we are going to go for ‘Defined’ as it mostly looks like the player we are looking to build.
In terms of height, you must really be careful with what you go for as with every inch up or down, you will lose or gain some critical points that can break the player’s potential. After carefully taking a look at the pros and cons of all heights, we are going to stick with 6 foot 5 for this particular build.
If you go for 6 foot 6, you will significantly reduce your speed, steal ability, ball handle, three-point range and more valuable aspects. But, if you stick to our recommendation, your standing dunk is up and a couple of more attributes without having such a drastic effect on any of the key physical attributes.
When it comes to the weight, bump it up little to 217lbs, which will make your player play like Jordan a lot more. Despite it reducing your speed, as your player progresses and has his rating increased, he will gain even more speed. So, you won’t even notice that there has been a speed reduction.
As an addition, when it comes to higher weight, your player will also gain the extremely valuable strength, making his drives to the rim that much more powerful.
Our recommendation will be that you max out the wingspan of Michael Jordan to 86″ as that will significantly increase pretty much all of the players’ finishing and defensive attributes. Yes, you are going to take a hit in mid-range shooting and three-point shooting, but we definitely believe that it is worth the sacrifice.
Michael Jordan Takeover
When it comes to choosing a takeover, we would recommend that you go for the ‘Slasher’ takeover, which seems to be the best one of the ones that we have available to pick from. It will not only increase your players’ finishing ability at the rim in traffic but will also make the player that much better at getting past the defense of the opposing team.
After that, your build should be ‘Slasher’, meaning that your player has the shades of top players beyond Michael Jordan like Penny Hardaway, Russell Westbrook, and John Wall. Now, even if we don’t believe that the player build should be name Slasher because of the shooting and finishing HoF badges, it is what it is and it won’t have any effect on how the player performs.
Micheal Jordan Build Badges
Last but not least, the badges. As you already know, they are fundamental to the players’ characteristics as they essentially add unique boosts to the players’ abilities that they otherwise will not have if it wasn’t for the badges. So, this makes our job in selecting the best badges very important. After some playing around, we believe to have finally found the best combination of badges for the complete Michael Jordan build.
So, if you want every single opponent you face to fear you, make sure that you follow through and use every single one of the badges that we recommend below.
Michael Jordan Finishing Badges
For the finishing badges, we are going to go all in and use 4x Hall of Fame Badges to make sure that Jordan’s finishing abilities are put optimal.
1) Fancy Footwork: Using this badge will give your player the ability to beat defenders with an advanced layup or dunk gather. This badge will be very useful when you are dribbling.
2) Contact Finisher: This perk will improve the players’ ability to convert contact layups and dunks in traffic, making the finishing abilities of Michael Jordan extremely converting.
3) Giant Slayer: Using this badge will heighten the effectiveness of layups over taller defenders. This will only make Jordan’s finishing that much more deadly, even against the toughest of opponents.
4) Relentless Finisher: Making use of this badge will reduce your player’s fatigue levels from continually finishing at the rim with contact. As you know, Jordan will be a very critical player to the overall final score of the match, so making use of this badge is definitely a plus in the late minutes of the match.
Note: The four HoF badges that we have gone for, at least in our opinion, work very well together. One last comment though on a potential replacement for the ‘Relentless Finisher‘ badge would be ‘Slithery Finisher‘. Feel free to use that one if you prefer to improve your players’ ability to avoid any sort of contact when attacking the rim.
Michael Jordan Shooting Badges
1) HOF Catch & Shoot: Making use of this badge will boost the player’s chances of hitting a jump shot immediately after catches coming from rebounds or passes.
2) HOF Difficult Shots: Using this badge will improve your players’ ability to shoot difficult shots off the dribble.
3) HOF Hot Zone Hunter: Using this perk will boost the players’ shot percentage for attempts taken from the player’s most favorite spots.
4) HOF Range Extender: This badge will increase your player’s shooting range quite substantially.
5) Silver Volume Shooter: This badge will improve the player’s shot percentages as he continues to accumulate scoring attempts throughout the game.
Note: If you are yet to unlock hot zones, you can try and use an alternative badge to the ‘Hot Zone Hunter’. However, we would recommend that you use this HoF perk after unlocking the hot zones in order to maximize the players performance.
Michael Jordan Playmaking Badges
1) Gold Handles For Days: Using this badge will reduce the amount of energy the player is going to lose when performing dribble moves.
2) Gold Quick First Step: Making use of this badge will make the player better at creating space from a defender. This badge will team up very nicely with the ‘Contact Finisher‘ badge.
3) Gold Ankle Breaker: We believe that this badge is very important as it will boost the player’s shot percentage for open teammates on jump shots after catching a pass.
4) Gold Space Creator: Using this badge will improve your players’ ability to create space from a defender. It will help immensely when it comes to closing in to your opponents basket.
Michael Jordan Defense Badges
1) Gold Clamps: Making use of this badge will boost the player’s ability to stay in front of the ball handler on the perimeter. This badge is going to bring forward the true style of Michael Jordan.
2) Gold Intimidator: If you want your opponents to miss out on more of their shots, then making use of the ‘Intimidator’ badge will be vital. Overall, it is a great defensive badge.
Note: Now, if you want to spice it up a bit and move in a slightly different direction to what we originally recommend above, you could reduce ‘Clamps‘ and ‘Intimidator‘ from Gold to Silver, and select Silver ‘Interceptor‘ if you would like to increase the chances of getting steals in passing lanes.
This leaves us with 8 Hall Of Fame Badges, 6 Gold Badges, 1 Silver Badges, and 0 Bronze Badges. Feel free to implement the above guidance and get a 99 rated player in the likes of Michael Jordan, who will undoubtedly be one of the best on the court at any given moment.
