In NBA 2K24, the small forward is the most versatile position. They can do almost everything on the court, especially if they specialize in those aspects.
The NBA has had a lot of dominant small forwards, but they are incomparable to one another. Some small forwards can shoot, drive to the basket, rebound, defend, bring the ball, and create plays for teammates.
In the NBA, they can be exceptional at all these aspects, but in NBA 2K24, you are very limited. So, we’ll give you a lot of different small forward archetypes, and you can find the right build that fits your playstyle.
Two-Way Slasher Build
For this two-way slasher build, we are going for a 6’8 height, 218 lbs, and 7’4″ wingspan. The height will put you at an advantage over taller defenders. Giant Slayer won’t be as mandatory to finish at the rim as long as you are able to break free from the defender.
The wingspan helps us improve our finishing inside and helps with our defense. Even if our steals, blocks, and rebounds are at a low stat, the height and wingspan will carry us.
Our height limits our physicals, specifically for speed and acceleration, but we want to be a two-way slasher (good at finishing and defending), so we have no choice.
| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Finishing | |
| Close Shot | 85 |
| Driving Layup | 84 |
| Driving Dunk | 93 |
| Standing Dunk | 52 |
| Post Control | 63 |
| Shooting | |
| Mid-Range Shot | 75 |
| Three-Point Shot | 64 |
| Free Throw | 77 |
| Playmaking | |
| Pass Accuracy | 68 |
| Ball Handle | 78 |
| Speed With Ball | 77 |
| Defense/Rebounding | |
| Interior Defense | 76 |
| Perimeter Defense | 83 |
| Steal | 56 |
| Block | 45 |
| Offensive Rebound | 62 |
| Defensive Rebound | 76 |
| Physicals | |
| Speed | 82 |
| Acceleration | 74 |
| Strength | 62 |
| Vertical | 87 |
| Stamina | 94 |
Our top-tier finishing from the inside, especially with a driving dunk of 93, will help us get high-tier badges on Posterizer, Precision Dunker, and Giant Slayer.
This makes the build incredibly fun to play, as you completely dominate the paint with flashy dunks. Once you get a slight opening, that’s all you need to finish emphatically at the rim.
Our shooting is a bit low, but you can definitely hit open mid-range Js and catch and shoot 3s. This isn’t our strength, but it isn’t a glaring weakness either.
Our ball handle is important so we don’t get stripped easily or get clamped down when slashing through the inside every possession.
The speed with ball attribute can also be higher, but our height limits us to get it higher. We can allocate the points elsewhere, but we are still decently fast (just not at an all-star level).
Our defense is above average. We can clamp down any superstar, especially with our size and length.
It is fun playing defense with the build, as you can freely help your teammates and cover the shot from the weak side.
Rebounding is also one of our strengths. If you can get a good position, you can outrebound power forwards and centers for your size.
Offensive Machine Build
This build is more suited for MyCareer games than online play. Since players online can abuse your low defensive stats, your lateral movements will never be able to keep up with them.
However, when you are playing against an AI or computer, they have a very systemic approach to things. You can still be a decent defender if you can read the AI properly.
We are going for a 6’6″ height, 215 lbs, and 6’11” wingspan. You can change this to your liking. If you want better finishing, make yourself taller. If you want better shooting, keep the same height and wingspan or slightly lower it.
| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Finishing | |
| Close Shot | 94 |
| Driving Layup | 84 |
| Driving Dunk | 80 |
| Standing Dunk | 33 |
| Post Control | 59 |
| Shooting | |
| Mid-Range Shot | 81 |
| Three-Point Shot | 88 |
| Free Throw | 74 |
| Playmaking | |
| Pass Accuracy | 76 |
| Ball Handle | 82 |
| Speed With Ball | 78 |
| Defense/Rebounding | |
| Interior Defense | 0 |
| Perimeter Defense | 57 |
| Steal | 0 |
| Block | 0 |
| Offensive Rebound | 0 |
| Defensive Rebound | 49 |
| Physicals | |
| Speed | 86 |
| Acceleration | 80 |
| Strength | 37 |
| Vertical | 80 |
| Stamina | 94 |
Our close shot, driving layup, and driving dunk are all above average. We’ll be unstoppable inside. With our high physicals, mainly speed and acceleration, we can also cut to the basket (off the ball) and create a lot of opportunities.
This build is an absolute menace off the ball. The defense has to stick to you at all times because you can finish from anywhere on the court.
Our sharpshooting skills can also collapse the defense when they go over the screens. This gives you the opportunity to get some assists with a great rolling big man.
It’ll be hard to grind all those badges for finishing and shooting because we have to get a ton of badge points to keep them up.
We don’t have many defensive badges so you won’t be credited much for performing well on the defensive end.
Overall, this build terrorizes any defense out there.
All-Around Build
This build is by far the most versatile build on this guide. We have no weaknesses and are decent in every aspect of the game.
We are going for a 6’7″, 215 lbs, and 7’0″ wingspan player. It might be the most stereotypical body setting for a small forward, but this gives us the edge in equalizing all the attributes.
You might have some difficulty increasing your overall rating, so I suggest improving on one offensive aspect (finishing or scoring) first.
| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Finishing | |
| Close Shot | 78 |
| Driving Layup | 84 |
| Driving Dunk | 80 |
| Standing Dunk | 0 |
| Post Control | 0 |
| Shooting | |
| Mid-Range Shot | 79 |
| Three-Point Shot | 80 |
| Free Throw | 84 |
| Playmaking | |
| Pass Accuracy | 82 |
| Ball Handle | 80 |
| Speed With Ball | 81 |
| Defense/Rebounding | |
| Interior Defense | 60 |
| Perimeter Defense | 82 |
| Steal | 72 |
| Block | 60 |
| Offensive Rebound | 47 |
| Defensive Rebound | 73 |
| Physicals | |
| Speed | 81 |
| Acceleration | 79 |
| Strength | 69 |
| Vertical | 74 |
| Stamina | 94 |
We aren’t going for standing dunks and post control since we won’t be backing down any enemies at our size. Even if we did, we usually capitalize on mismatch, where you can do a post fadeaway jumper.
Our finishing gives us enough points to get at least a gold tier on important badges. The same goes for our shooting.
Our defense is also top-notch. It is even slightly better than our two-way slasher build. However, if you want to improve at other aspects of the build, such as shooting, you can take a few points from steals, blocks, and offensive rebounds.
It is also worth noting that we have decent pass accuracy, ball handling, and speed with the ball. This gives us the ability to run pick-and-roll plays like a point guard.
Since we have the size, we can slash, pop, or pass to the rolling teammate. We can pretty much do anything and just read the defense on how they are defending the current pick-and-roll.
If you ever decide to switch builds, you might want to find the right team for your playstyle and request a trade to a better team.
