When starting your MyCareer journey in NBA 2K22, one of the important decisions you will have to make is determining what player archetype you want to build.

Creating a combo forward who can handle the ball and shoot from the perimeter is a good option. It will allow you to play a character that is heavily involved in the offense.

One of the best stretch playmakers of all time was Larry Bird. We have a guide on the best Larry Bird build in NBA 2K22 that you can copy if you want to play like the Boston Celtics legend.

But if you want to create your own build, I’ll show you what skill breakdown, physical profile, attributes, and badges you need for your player. This guide will help you make the best stretch playmaker build in NBA 2K22.

Stretch Playmaker Build Overview

First things first, let’s discuss what a stretch playmaker is.

To be called a stretch player, you have to be able to space the floor because of your outside shooting prowess. The term is usually used to refer to a big man or oversized wing. Such players have become a commodity now in the NBA as most offenses now almost always feature 3-point shooting.

A playmaker, on the other hand, is someone who is capable of facilitating the offense. His goal is to find open teammates, and he is looking to deliver the ball to those who have great opportunities to score. He can also score the ball himself, if that’s the better option.

A stretch playmaker combines these characteristics and sometimes serves as the team’s coach on the court. Examples of modern-day players who can be considered as stretch playmakers include Jayson Tatum, Joe Ingles, and Domantas Sabonis.

When you do this build, I suggest that you assign it the power forward position. This will provide your character better attributes across the board.

Skill Breakdown

For the skill breakdown, you will have to focus on the shooting and playmaking combination. I recommend the pie chart that has an equal allocation of the two categories.

This way, your character will have a balanced distribution of attribute points under shooting and playmaking.

Physical Profile

The physical profile of your character should have a combination of agility and vertical. Because your player will primarily be playing from the perimeter, your player will not need that much strength.

For the distribution of agility and vertical, it is better to go with more agility to provide more speed and acceleration. Having more of this core will allow your character to run and recover more quickly.

Setting Your Potential

In setting your character’s potential, there are several offensive attributes you should maximize. These include driving layup, driving dunk, three-point shot, free throw, post fade, ball handle, and post control.

While it also makes sense to increase mid-range shot and pass accuracy to the limit, allotting some of the points instead to defense/rebounding attributes will be better for your player. Set these attributes to 79 and 70, respectively. They will receive a boost when you adjust the height anyway.

As for the defense/rebounding category, maximize the interior defense, perimeter defense, lateral quickness, block, and defensive rebound attributes. Doing so will make your player more serviceable on this end of the court. Moreover, it will offset the sharp decrease in these abilities when you change the height later.

To round out this part, put the remaining points on the steal attribute.

Physical Attributes

Because of the player creation mechanics in the MyCareer mode, the best stretch playmaker build in NBA 2K22 will have a height that measures lower than the default height.

By decreasing the height to 6-foot-7, your player will receive bonuses to important shooting, playmaking, and defense/rebounding attributes.

On the flip side, some defense/rebounding attributes that you have maximized earlier will receive penalties. This compromise, though, is reasonable because of the player archetype you are building.

Since your player is a combo forward, you will need higher interior defense. Raising the weight will give you a bonus on this attribute. Around 261 lbs will be ideal. Increasing it further will significantly deplete your speed and acceleration.

You should also expand the wingspan to give close shot, driving dunk, block, and defensive rebound an increase. 86 inches will suffice so your character’s shooting attributes will not be penalized too much.

Takeover

Only two of the takeover options are worth considering for your preferred build.

The Spot Up Shooter takeover can help you rack up the points when your player gets hot. It provides a boost to outside shooting attributes, which will help you convert more field goal attempts.

Nevertheless, I recommend opting for Playmaker. The bonus in ball handle attribute is just too good to pass up. This takeover, when enabled, will also make it easier to break down defenders.

Stretch Playmaker Badges

If you copy the attributes exactly as I presented, most of the badges you can potentially upgrade will fall under shooting and playmaking.

These badges will help you fulfill your role as a stretch playmaker to a T.

Finishing Badges

You will only get one upgrade point under the finishing category. This is fine since a stretch player normally has few opportunities for you to drive to the basket. Having said that, you can unlock any badge of your preference here.

What I suggest, though, is using it on Fearless Finisher. The badge will help you absorb contact when attempting a layup or dunk and still be able to convert the attempt.

1. Fearless Finisher – Strengthens the player’s ability to receive contact and still finish. Also reduces the amount of energy lost from contact layups or dunks.

Shooting Badges

The shooting badges you will want to concentrate on are those that will help you shoot even in the face of opponents. These are Blinders, Deadeye, and Mismatch Expert.

Those that can provide boosts to your 3-point shooting include Corner Specialist, Limitless Spot-Up, and Stop & Pop.

I advise upgrading Clutch Shooter to improve your player during crunch time situations and Volume Shooter to avoid penalties for attempting a high number of shots throughout the game.

1. Blinders – Jump shots taken with a defender closing out in their peripheral vision will suffer a lower penalty.

2. Clutch Shooter – Shot attempts that occur during the final moments of fourth quarter and overtime are more likely to go in.

3. Corner Specialist – Deep range shots taken along the baseline receive a boost.

4. Deadeye – Jump shots taken with a defender closing out receive less of a penalty from a shot contest.

5. Limitless Spot-Up – Gives a boost to the range that the player can effectively shoot standing three-point shots.

6. Mismatch Expert – Improves the shot percentage of the player who is shooting over a taller opponent.

7. Stop & Pop – Raises the shot rating of stand-still three-pointers attempted after dribbling.

8. Volume Shooter – Additional boost to shot attributes are received after a small handful of shots have already been attempted.

Playmaking Badges

Most of the playmaking badges are those that provide boosts for your player’s passing and dribbling abilities.

One of the badges you should prioritize is Floor General and Dimer. This will increase your teammates’ offensive abilities when they share the court with you or receive a pass from you.

You can get your teammates involved more in the offense by performing pick and roll or pick and pop. We have a guide that can teach you how to call for a screen in NBA 2K22.

Bullet Passer, Needle Threader, and Special Delivery will help make sure your passes are delivered to the intended recipients. The Break Starter badge is also a good one. It can prevent turnovers whenever you make outlet passes off a defensive board.

Lastly, your character has to be equipped with badges that give boost to your ball handle attribute. Tight Handles will lessen the chances of opponents from stealing the ball from you and Triple Threat Juke increases the likelihood of your character blowing by a defender.

1. Break Starter – Deep outlet passes made immediately after grabbing a defensive rebound are more likely to connect.

2. Bullet Passer – Speeds up how quickly the player gets the ball out of their hands as well as the velocity of the pass.

3. Dimer – When in the half court, passes to open shooters result in an increased shot percentage.

4. Floor General – Provides offensive attribute boosts to teammates who share the floor with the player with this badge. Also shows you which of your teammates are standing in one of their hot zones.

5. Needle Threader – When passing through a tight space between defenders, a boost is given to the player’s passing attribute.

6. Special Delivery – Increases the chances of successfully making alley-oop passes and improves the shot percentage of teammates who receive a flashy pass from the player.

7. Tight Handles – Increases the player’s ball handling ability in size-up situations, making it easier to break down the on-ball defender.

8. Triple Threat Juke – Speeds up triple threat moves when trying to dribble past the opponent, raising the chances of freezing him up.

Defense/Rebounding Badges

You will only receive a handful of potential upgrade points for defense/rebounding. The points can be spread out to a higher number of badges. Alternatively, you can focus on just a couple so you can upgrade them to Silver or Gold.

I have a bias for the Tireless Defender badge because I tend to exert additional effort on defense. Doing so while equipped with the badge will result in the consumption of a lower amount of energy.

You can also allot a point or two for Clamps so it will not be that difficult to stay in front of opposing players on defense.

1. Clamps – The player has access to quicker cut off moves and is more successful when bumping or hip-riding the opposing ball handler.

2. Tireless Defender – Allows the player to play defense more aggressively while becoming fatigued at a lower rate than a normal player.

Final Thoughts

If you follow everything I put forward from the skill breakdown to the takeover, what you will get is a two-way stretch playmaker.

You can tweak the badges a bit. To learn more about them, we have listed here the best badges to use in NBA 2K22. But those mentioned above are those I have found helpful when playing with this type of build.