When playing in NBA 2K24’s MyTeam mode, it’s important to have a defense that’s set up to control and stop the star offensive players that your opponent has built up their own team with.
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to have total direct control of all five of the players on the court playing defense for you, which can sometimes allow your opponent to avoid your game skills by exploiting the CPU controlled defenders to put points on the scoreboard.
Thankfully, similar to NBA 2K24’s slider options, that’s where the MyTeam game mode’s defensive settings come in to play to help you have a strong defense. The selections you make for your MyTeam defensive settings will effect how the CPU controlled defenders on your team play and behave to give you the best chance of winning when you’re not able to control all the relevant defenders on a play.
That’s why today’s guide will discuss the NBA 2K24’s best defensive settings to help you have a great defense on the way to winning on the court.
Before you can make your selections of the perfect defensive settings for you, you’ll first need to know where to actually find them within NBA 2K24’s MyTeam game mode.
For today’s guide there will be two areas that we’ll be adjusting options within: “Coach Gameplan” and “Coach Settings”.
Navigating to Coach Gameplan
The first step to access your coach gameplan settings is to use R1 and L1 (or RB and LB) to toggle over to the “Manage” tab within the MyTeam main menu.
Once you’ve reached the “Manage” tab, your next step will be to select the top most option titled “Lineups Management” by pressing X (or A) when it’s highlighted.
The game will then prompt you to choose which line up you want to edit the management settings for. For the purposes of today’s guide you’ll want to select your main MyTeam lineup, however after you’ve set those defensive settings you can also choose to make slight tweaks to those settings for your other lineups to best match each lineup’s personnel.
Once you’ve selected the lineup you’ll be changing the defensive settings for you’ll need to use R1 and L1 (or RB and LB) to toggle over to the “Coaching” tab.
Once you’re in the “Coaching” tab, scroll down and select the third option from the top labeled “Coach Gameplan”.
Once you’ve selected “Coach Gameplan” you’ll be brought to the screen where you can make all of your adjustments to the defensive settings within the Coach Adjustments. The best options for these settings are detailed below in the “Best MyTeam Coach Gameplan Adjustments” section of the guide.
Navigating to Coach Settings
The first step to access your coach settings options is to use R1 and L1 (or RB and LB) to toggle over to the “Manage” tab within the MyTeam main menu.
Once you’ve reached the “Manage” tab, your next step will be to select the top most option titled “Lineups Management” by pressing X (or A) when it’s highlighted.
The game will then prompt you to choose which line up you want to edit the management settings for. For the purposes of today’s guide you’ll want to select your main MyTeam lineup, however after you’ve set those defensive settings you can also choose to make slight tweaks to those settings for your other lineups to best match each lineup’s personnel.
Once you’ve selected the lineup you’ll be changing the defensive settings for you’ll need to use R1 and L1 (or RB and LB) to toggle over to the “Coaching” tab.
Once you’re in the “Coaching” tab, scroll down and select the option farthest to the bottom labeled “Coach Settings”.
Once you’ve selected “Coach Settings” you’ll be brought to the screen where you can make all of your adjustments to the defensive settings within the settings menu. The best options for these settings are detailed below in the “Best MyTeam Coach Settings Adjustments” section of the guide.
Selecting your MyTeam Defensive Settings
Now that you know where to find both your coach gameplan options as well as your coach settings options, it’s time for you to adjust both of these in order for you to have the best defense you can.
In order to make these options easier to read and use as a guide, they’ll be split into two separate sections of “Coach Gameplan” and Coach Settings” since these options are in two different menus in NBA 2K24 MyTeam.
Best MyTeam Coach Gameplan Adjustments
| Coach Gameplan Setting | Selection | Reasoning |
| On Ball Pressure | Smother (All) | This will make the on ball defender play extremely close on their matchup, increasing the chances of causing a turnover |
| Off Ball Pressure | Tight (All) | This will make off ball defenders play extremely close on their matchup, making the open window for a pass much smaller |
| Force Direction | Automatic (All) | This will make defenders favor a side and force the ball carrier in a way to best line up with your team’s scheme |
| On Ball Screen | Go Over (All) | This will make the defenders go over screens as opposed to playing it by ear to fit the scheme |
| Hedge | Soft Hedge (All) | This will make defenders step out to prevent ball carriers from turning the corner, making it harder for the offense to execute play calls |
| On Ball Screen (Center) | Go Over (All) | This will make the defenders go over screens as opposed to playing it by ear to fit the scheme |
| Hedge (Center) | Soft Hedge (All) | This will make defenders step out to prevent ball carriers from turning the corner, making it harder for the offense to execute play calls |
| Stay Attached | Yes (All) | This will make your defenders stay closely attached to the screener as well as go under any attempted pick and roll coverage |
| Off Ball Screen | Go Over (All) | This will make your off ball defenders go over screens as opposed to playing it by ear to fit the scheme |
| Post | Automatic (All) | This will make your defenders adjust how they defend in the post to best line up with your team’s scheme |
| Double Team Perimeter | Manual (All) | This will make defenders only double team on the perimeter when you call for it, preventing open space on the court caused by double teams you weren’t expecting |
| Double Team Post | Manual (All) | This will make defenders only double team in the post when you call for it, preventing open space on the court caused by double teams you weren’t expecting |
| Switch Rules Off Ball | Switch Auto (All) | This will make defenders automatically switch their matchups in order to best line up with your team’s scheme |
| Pre Rotate | No (All) | This will prevent your lower weak side defender from coming up to load up the strong side of the floor |
| Screen Help Rules | No Help (All) | This will make your defenders stay home on their assignments during a screen (both the help and rotating defenders) preventing a miscommunication during screens |
| Drive Help Rules | Automatic (All) | This will make your defenders automatically help on drives in order to best fit with your team’s scheme. |
| Extend Pressure | Automatic (All) | N/A; There are no other options for the Extend Pressure Setting |
Best MyTeam Coach Settings Adjustments
Not all of the options within MyTeam’s “Coach Settings” menu pertain to CPU controlled defenders or even the defense at all, but there are some settings you can change to help improve your defense on the court.
| Coach Setting | Selection | Reasoning |
| Adaptive Coach Engine | Off | Gives you full control over any and all coaching options/decisions throughout the course of a game |
| Timeout | Manual | Allows you to have full control of when to timeout, preventing the CPU from ruining your strategy by calling timeouts without your input |
| Substitution | Manual | Gives you full control over substitutions during the game, preventing any personnel mismatches you weren’t prepared for being created by auto substitutions |
| Late Game Fouling | Manual | Gives you full control over when and if your team should intentionally commit fouls towards the end of the game, preventing the CPU from ruining your strategy by intentionally fouling without your input |
Final Word
Overall, the selections listed above for MyTeam defensive settings within both Coach Gameplan and Coach Settings are the best we’ve found to create an aggressive defense that puts pressure on your opponent’s offense and increases your chances of getting the ball back into your hands.
However, this style of defensive play may not always be the best choice for you, whether that’s due to your preferred playstyle or the actual players you have to work with on your team.
If that’s the case for you, you can always choose to use these defensive settings as a base foundation that you can tweak in order to make it work best for you.
