2K Sports is always pushing the limits of how close they can get the gameplay experience to the actual NBA.
NBA 2K22 is no different, and if you play the game on default settings, you’ll get a solid experience pretty close to how today’s teams play. Lots of three-pointers, quick wings, ball movement – 2K did a pretty good job of replicating this.
There are, however, certain aspects of the experience that can be improved. Once you play the game enough, you’ll notice some patterns that can get annoying after a while.
Read on and find out how to set the best NBA 2k22 realistic sliders in this year’s edition of the game.
To What Extent Do Game Sliders Affect the Game?
Setting realistic game sliders is pretty much the best way to combat inconsistencies or annoying, recurring problems you notice while playing the game.
You can tweak almost anything, from movement speed and tendencies to the success rate of specific shots. Once you apply your changes, you’ll see an instant effect in your next game. Even changing Close Shot Success from 50 to 55 will produce a noticeable difference in how successful your players are under the rim.
That being said, some things might not need changing as much as you need to improve your skill. NBA 2K games are getting notoriously more difficult so you might need to practice a little bit. For example, if you’re getting too many turnovers, you need to start using icon passes and call plays to be more careful with the ball.
Setting Realistic Game Sliders for the Best Experience
Here is how you can set both user and CPU sliders to get as close to the real game as possible. I’ll be using the Superstar difficulty as a starting point but, as soon as you tweak a slider, the Game Style will change to Custom. Still, it’s good to have a basis to start from when adjusting your own sliders.
Offense Sliders
| Slider | User | CPU |
|---|---|---|
| Free Throw Difficulty | 55 | N/A |
| Inside Shot Success | 52 | 55 |
| Close Shot Success | 52 | 54 |
| Mid-Range Success | 50 | 53 |
| 3PT Success | 50 | 53 |
| Layup Success | 53 | 54 |
| Shot Coverage Impact | 53 | 50 |
| Shot Timing Impact | 45 | 50 |
| Dunk in Traffic Frequency | 50 | 50 |
| Dunk in Traffic Success | 52 | 52 |
| Pass Accuracy | 50 | 50 |
| Alley-Oop Success | 50 | 50 |
| Contact Shot Success | 52 | 54 |
| Ball Security | 50 | 52 |
| Body-Up Sensitivity | 50 | 50 |
| Pass Speed | 50 | 50 |
With the offensive NBA 2K22 sliders, we’re mainly looking at shot success and selection. From my experience playing 2K22, scoring inside is a problem for both the user and CPU, more so for the CPU. Even a mildly contested shot will end up missing. So, I boost user slides slightly and give the CPU a bigger advantage here.
I also decided to reduce the shot timing impact significantly out of pure frustration, since Slightly Early but Wide Open shots fail much more often than not. In return, I increased the Shot Coverage Impact to force the user to work for space.
This is the perfect setting for casual players that can’t be bothered with mastering each player’s release mechanic.
Defense Sliders
| Slider | User | CPU |
|---|---|---|
| Driving Contact Shot Frequency | 52 | 52 |
| Inside Contact Shot Frequency | 52 | 54 |
| Layup Defense Strength (Takeoff) | 50 | 50 |
| Layup Defense Strength (Release) | 50 | 50 |
| Jump Shot Defense Strength (Gather) | 50 | 46 |
| Jump Shot Defense Strength (Release) | 50 | 48 |
| Help Defense Strength | 50 | 52 |
| Steal Success | 50 | 52 |
Defense sliders on the user side are pretty tight as they are on Superstar. The only thing you need to do is tweak Jump Shot Defense on the CPU side since it can get pretty intense and cover your shooters perfectly.
I also experienced some buggy plays with how quickly a CPU defender can reduce the distance between himself and your player, even when you manage to create space. It looks as if they’re three feet away but they reach you and contest the shot in the blink of an eye.
Attributes Sliders
| Slider | User | CPU |
|---|---|---|
| Acceleration | 50 | 50 |
| Vertical | 50 | 50 |
| Strength | 50 | 50 |
| Stamina | 50 | 50 |
| Speed | 50 | 50 |
| Durability | 50 | 50 |
| Hustle | 50 | 50 |
| Ball Handling | 50 | 50 |
| Hands | 50 | 50 |
| Dunking Ability | 50 | 50 |
| On-Ball Defense | 50 | 50 |
| Stealing | 50 | 50 |
| Blocking | 50 | 50 |
| Offensive Awareness | 50 | 50 |
| Defensive Awareness | 50 | 50 |
| Offensive Rebounding | 50 | 50 |
| Defensive Rebounding | 50 | 50 |
| Offensive Consistency | 50 | 50 |
| Defensive Consistency | 50 | 50 |
| Fatigue Rate | 50 | 50 |
| Lateral Quickness | 50 | 50 |
You shouldn’t really adjust attributes as they are well-balanced and should entirely depend on each player’s individual skill.
You’ll see that all difficulties apart from Rookie and Pro have identical Abilities sliders, with no penalty or advantage for either side.
Tendencies Sliders
| Slider | User | CPU |
|---|---|---|
| Take Inside Shots | 50 | 48 |
| Take Close Shots | 50 | 47 |
| Take Mid-Range Shots | 50 | 46 |
| Take 3PT Shots | 50 | 55 |
| Post Shots | 50 | 48 |
| Attack the Basket | 50 | 50 |
| Look for Post Players | 50 | 50 |
| Throw Alley-Oops | 50 | 48 |
| Attempt Dunks | 50 | 50 |
| Attempt Putbacks | 50 | 50 |
| Play Passing Lanes | 50 | 54 |
| Go for On-Ball Steals | 50 | 50 |
| Contest Shots | 50 | 54 |
| Backdoor Cuts | 50 | 52 |
Tendencies only really affect the CPU, since you’ll be controlling the other side and user tendencies will represent your playing style.
To make the game sliders more realistic and closer to the real NBA experience, you’ll need to prioritize the perimeter. This means reducing the tendency to take inside shots and increasing the 3PT tendency. When you think about it, this makes a lot of sense – how many times have you seen players give up an open layup to pass the ball outside in the modern NBA?
You should also reduce the mid-range tendency since this part of the game isn’t as prominent in the NBA today.
Fouls Sliders
| Slider | User | CPU |
|---|---|---|
| Over the Back Foul Frequency | 50 | 50 |
| Charging Foul Frequency | 50 | 50 |
| Blocking Foul Frequency | 50 | 50 |
| Reaching Foul Frequency | 65 | 65 |
| Shooting Foul Frequency | 50 | 50 |
| Loose Ball Foul Frequency | 60 | 60 |
| Illegal Screen Frequency | 50 | 50 |
Foul sliders are pretty much spot-on in the Superstar and Hall of Fame difficulties, although I do feel like the reaching foul is called a little more often. You can reduce it slightly to attempt more steals with less frustration.
It’s important to keep the charging/blocking foul balance so this is one setting that I definitely wouldn’t touch.
Movement Sliders
| Slider | User | CPU |
|---|---|---|
| Speed with Ball (Max rating) | 73 | 70 |
| Speed with Ball (Min rating) | 40 | 40 |
| Acceleration with Ball (Max rating) | 75 | 70 |
| Acceleration with Ball (Min rating) | 40 | 40 |
| Speed without Ball (Max rating) | 75 | 75 |
| Speed without Ball (Min rating) | 35 | 35 |
| Acceleration without Ball (Max rating) | 75 | 75 |
| Acceleration without Ball (Min rating) | 35 | 35 |
Once again, the Superstar difficulty has pretty accurate game sliders when it comes to movement. The only thing that might need tweaking is user speed and acceleration with the ball. Sometimes it can feel like the CPU defenders are too quick to move laterally and stop you from blowing past them even with the quickest players.
If you take a look at what’s going on in real-life NBA, you have players like Kyrie Irving doing this on a daily basis. So, you can increase the Speed with Ball and Acceleration with Ball just a hair.
Final Word
The best NBA 2k22 sliders will be based both on your personal preferences and current NBA playing style – so you might find that the sliders I suggested won’t suit your style perfectly.
Feel free to tweak them and discover how to set realistic game sliders in NBA 2K22 on your own. Still, the 3PT preference, shot stick timing, and several other settings are constants since 2019 so they’ll most likely require some adjustments.
