The modern NBA is all about stars – you almost can’t compete without at least two superstar players and a solid team around them.
One of the most exciting aspects of MyLeague and MyGM is that you can create these superteams by trading for stars, acquiring them in free agency, or drafting and developing young talent. If you play your cards right, you can end up with a dynasty in just a few seasons and set yourself up for long-term success.
Here is our guide on how to create a superteam in NBA 2K22 My League.
Step 1: Go through MyLeague Settings
This is an important step that you need to go over if you want to create a superteam in either MyGM or MyLeague in 2k22. While you can certainly do it without changing the settings, there are a few very specific things that can impede your chances of forming a superteam.
Contracts Settings
So, once you go over the basic setup – season length, quarter length, team chemistry, etc. – tap R2/RT until you get to Contracts.
Here, we have the salary cap and hard cap. I like to keep the salary cap as it is, with a hard cap of 200-250 million. This ensures a dose of reality while allowing you room to maneuver.
Note: If you just want to create a monster superteam with no regards for reality, simply remove the salary cap and this will be much easier. In my experiment, I used a hard cap to show how to get a superteam with real restrictions in place.
After you do this, scroll down and adjust salary expectations. You don’t have to tamper with these too much but I like to increase the value of player potential to mimic what’s going on in the current NBA a little more. I also reduce player non-financial ambitions just a tad to eliminate guesswork and randomness.
Trades Settings
The next step is to tap R2/RT again and head over to the Trades settings, more specifically Player Trade Value.
Here, you can use a sample player and an evaluating team to essentially calibrate how a team that’s contending/buying/selling/rebuilding would value said player. I would avoid this simply because I’m still wary of how accurate these settings actually are – it seems like a slippery slope.
I set Team Style Importance to 17 and Player Fame Importance to 3, again to eliminate randomness. Player Type Discounts you don’t have to touch although you can reduce the value of Inside players relative to others to mimic the current NBA landscape a bit more.
The following settings are pretty important if you want to build a superteam so here’s what I go with.
| Draft Pick Importance: Contending | 95 |
| Draft Pick Importance: Buying | 91 |
| Draft Pick Importance: Selling | 110 |
| Draft Pick Importance: Rebuilding | 112 |
| Pick Depreciation, Year 2 | 92 |
| Pick Depreciation, Year 3 | 83 |
| Pick Depreciation, Year 4 | 75 |
| Pick Depreciation, Year 5 | 65 |
| Net Value: Contending | 45 |
| Net Value: Buying | 30 |
| Net Value: Selling | 85 |
| Net Value: Rebuilding | 73 |
The point of these settings is to strike a balance when it comes to how different types of teams value different assets. As you can see, the value of draft picks will be much higher to rebuilding teams. This means that, when the time comes to make moves, you can pry good players out of their hands with draft picks.
Step 2: Trade for Superstars
If you don’t set up a fantasy draft in NBA 2K22, you’ll have to roll up your sleeves and go get those superstars on your own. Use trades to get valuable players that you can later flip for superstars along with some picks. A rule of thumb with trades is:
Take superstars from rebuilding teams, offload contracts to contenders for picks.
This is pretty much how real-life NBA works – rebuilding teams keep handing out solid players they don’t need (because they’re tanking) to get young players and draft picks. When the time comes and they have a solid core and lots of cap space, they pull the trigger and exchange those draft picks for great players or simply draft a superstar.
However, things aren’t as simple as that. Certain players will be untouchable so you’ll have to wait for free agency to get them. Trades are better used for those players that are just below superstar level, the 85-90 OVR veterans.
You can make some instant changes to your roster as soon as you start the first season. In my experiment for this article, I chose the Oklahoma City Thunder because they’re one of the teams with the most cap space in NBA 2K22. They also have so many assets that you can do all sorts of trades and combinations with.
This was their roster when the season started:
You can see that they have lots of cap space and good contracts. Since there is nothing you can do with this team early on, I decided to tank the season and offload Derrick Favors to a team that might need him for even more picks and a bad expiring contract.
From there, I tanked the season, drafted a 78 OVR player, and started making moves next season.
Step 3: Build a Superteam from the Draft
You won’t be able to entirely rely on the draft to build a powerful team but there is definitely talent to be found there. Regardless of what draft class you’re using (generated or downloaded), if you have a good pick, you can find a 77-80 OVR player and turn him into a solid asset next season or even a real star.
In my first season, I drafted a 78 OVR player that developed into a 83 OVR and he became a key piece in my quest to build a superteam. The best thing about these players is that their rookie contracts are very affordable so they don’t take up too much cap space.
Even if your draft picks don’t turn into good players (which I found pretty rare), they’ll be appreciated on the trade market. Young talents almost always get 3+ stars in trade offers, usually even more.
So, use your scouts and draft the players that have a good estimated ranking as well as predicted draft position!
Step 4: Get Superstars in Free Agency
I found this part to be the most challenging since creating cap space before free agency isn’t that easy. Also, I had trouble signing some big names – possibly due to OKC being a small-market team.
Still, signing players in free agency is pretty straightforward. When the time comes, go to Free Agency and see which players are without a team. You can enter negotiations with any player but be careful: if you give them a lowball offer they might get “offended” and shut you down completely without giving you a chance to restart negotiations.
The most important columns here are “Offers” and “Expected”. The former tells you how many offers the player already has, the latter what salary they’re expecting. Use this to lead you and keep trying.
In my experience, though, this is one of the hardest things to do if you’re playing with a hard cap. It’s much easier to acquire superstars (and players who are on the brink of superstardom) through trades. Give up your young talents and draft picks, and you’ll be able to get real difference-makers.
The only issue here is that there are 3-5 players that can’t be acquired through trades. These are guys like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Zion Williamson, and Kawhi Leonard.
Step 5: Get Veterans in Free Agency
Finally, no superteam is complete without some players on veteran minimum contracts playing important roles.
You can go to free agency, tap R2/RT until you get to “Affordable” players – assuming you already have a superstar core, you’ll find some 72-78 OVR players here. Some of these players will be truly useful and they’ll sign with you instantly.
A 32-year old Seth Curry with A+ 3PT shooting on a one-year, $2.8 million contract? Yes, please!
Since most of your cap space will be tied up with your top 2-4 players, you’ll resort to these veterans quite often. I signed at least four of them in each free agency and they were all great budget players.
Summary
Expectedly, my biggest enemy in this journey was the salary cap. So if you want to create a superteam in NBA 2K22 MyLeague and MyGM for the sake of playing with your favorite superstars, remove the cap.
If you want to do it in a more realistic way, you’ll have to do the same thing NBA teams like the Warriors and 90s Bulls have been doing: develop your players and make smart trades that lead to big things.
In the end, this is the starting five I ended up with:
Obviously, Gilgeous-Alexander is the best player on the team but Capela, Simmons, Butler, and Maxey were all acquired through trades and free agency. Given their overall ratings, salaries, and a pretty solid bench (Bogdan Bogdanovic, Seth Curry, Norman Powell, and some young talent), I’d definitely consider them a superteam.
They were good enough to win back-to-back titles on simulation!
