The NBA 2K franchise has always featured dynamic gameplay that allows you to be extremely competitive with your friends and online opponents thanks to the franchise’s “easy to learn, difficult to master” style of gameplay.
What this means is that even if you’ve never played any NBA 2K game before you’ll be able to quickly understand how to play the game at a basic level.
However the NBA 2K franchise contains much more gameplay nuances than is found at just a basic level, meaning that you’ll quickly find yourself out of your depth when playing against true experts of the game.
In order to be able to master NBA 2K’s gameplay at the highest level the first step is to be intimately familiar with all of the game’s controls and what they do, as well as what you can use them to pull off on the court.
Here’s our comprehensive controller guide for NBA 2K24’s gameplay.
Categories of Gameplay
When playing a game in NBA 2K24, your controller layout will change throughout the game depending on the specific game situation you find yourself in at any given moment.
For example, if you’re currently the ball handler (the offensive player with possession of the ball) you’ll have controls specific to playing as the ball handler such as taking shots and passing the ball to teammates. Conversely, when playing as an off ball offensive player, you’ll have different controls such as calling for a pass or setting up a screen for the ball handler.
That’s why in today’s guide we’ll breakdown multiple controller layouts for various in game scenarios such as: offensive ball handler, off ball offense, defending the ball handler, and off ball defense.
Each category will also have the controller layouts broken down for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. No matter what console (or PC) you’re using to play NBA 2K24, our guide will help you understand and break down what controls are available to you.
Each different version of NBA 2K24’s controller layout will be broken down to help you best understand all the controls available to you at any given time to allow you to make the plays that are necessary to bring your team to victory in any phase of the game.
Offense
Offense as Ball Handler
PlayStation
| Button | Control |
| D Pad | On The Fly Coaching |
| Left Stick | Move Player |
| Right Stick | Pro Stick |
| Square | Shoot |
| X | Pass |
| Circle | Bounce Pass |
| Triangle | Lob Pass |
| Options / Start | Pause |
| R1 | Icon Pass |
| R2 | Sprint |
| L1 | Call Play |
| L2 | Post Up |
| Touchpad | Call Timeout / Coach’s Challenge |
Xbox / PC
| Button | Control |
| D Pad | On The Fly Coaching |
| Left Stick | Left Stick |
| Right Stick | Right Stick |
| X | Shoot |
| A | Pass |
| B | Bounce Pass |
| Y | Lob Pass |
| Menu | Pause |
| RB | Icon Pass |
| RT | Sprint |
| LB | Call Play |
| LT | Post Up |
| View | Call Timeout / Coach’s Challenge |
Off Ball Offense
PlayStation
| Button | Control |
| D Pad | On The Fly Coaching |
| Left Stick | Move Player |
| Right Stick | Pro Stick |
| Square | Tell Teammate to Shoot |
| X | Call for Pass |
| Circle | Quick Screen |
| Triangle | Call for Alley Oop |
| Options / Start | Pause |
| R1 | N/A |
| R2 | Sprint |
| L1 | Call for Screen |
| L2 | Post Up |
| Touchpad | Call Timeout / Coach’s Challenge |
Xbox / PC
| Button | Control |
| D Pad | On The Fly Coaching |
| Left Stick | Move Player |
| Right Stick | Pro Stick |
| X | Tell Teammate to Shoot |
| A | Call for Pass |
| B | Quick Screen |
| Y | Call for Alley Oop |
| Menu | Pause |
| RB | N/A |
| RT | Sprint |
| LB | Call for Screen |
| LT | Post Up |
| View | Call Timeout / Coach’s Challenge |
Defense
Defending the Ball Handler
PlayStation
| Button | Control |
| D Pad | On The Fly Coaching |
| Left Stick | Move Player |
| Right Stick | Hands Up |
| Square | Steal |
| X | Player Swap (Closest to Ball) |
| Circle | Take Charge |
| Triangle | Block / Rebound |
| Options / Start | Pause |
| R1 | Icon Swap |
| R2 | Sprint |
| L1 | Double Team |
| L2 | Intense D |
| Touchpad | Intentional Foul |
Xbox / PC
| Button | Control |
| D Pad | On The Fly Coaching |
| Left Stick | Move Player |
| Right Stick | Hands Up |
| X | Steal |
| A | Player Swap (Closest to Ball) |
| B | Take Charge |
| Y | Block / Rebound |
| Menu | Pause |
| RB | Icon Swap |
| RT | Sprint |
| LB | Double Team |
| LT | Intense D |
| View | Intentional Foul |
Off Ball Defense
PlayStation
| Button | Control |
| D Pad | On The Fly Coaching |
| Left Stick | Move Player |
| Right Stick | On Ball Steal |
| Square | Steal |
| X | Player Swap (Closest to Ball) |
| Circle | Take Charge |
| Triangle | Block / Rebound |
| Options / Start | Pause |
| R1 | Icon Swap |
| R2 | Sprint |
| L1 | Double Team |
| L2 | Intense D |
| Touchpad | Intentional Foul |
Xbox / PC
| Button | Control |
| D Pad | On The Fly Coaching |
| Left Stick | Move Player |
| Right Stick | On Ball Steal |
| X | Steal |
| A | Player Swap (Closest to Ball) |
| B | Take Charge |
| Y | Block / Rebound |
| Menu | Pause |
| RB | Icon Swap |
| RT | Sprint |
| LB | Double Team |
| LT | Intense D |
| View | Intentional Foul |
Final Word
Above is a comprehensive breakdowns of the basic controls available to you in all phases of the game when playing NBA 2K24.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably a relatively new player, as experienced and advanced players will have already been familiar with the controls that were broken down today.
If that’s the case for you, you now have a great foundation to build upon to improve your skills at NBA 2K24. The gameplay on the court can feel somewhat fast at times so you may find yourself needing to occasionally pause the game and come back to the controller guide’s breakdown.
Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with the controls available to you, the best way to continue to improve upon this foundation is simply to get minutes in and play the game. As time goes on and you play more of the game you’ll begin to learn when and how to best use these controls to dominate on the court.
