Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

[Hustle Westbrook]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

Man, these classic team rosters are getting thinner every year.

[J_Posse]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

He wasn't in last year either.

2K has been bleeding classic players. For every one they decide to keep they lose 10 more.

Man, these classic team rosters are getting thinner every year.

It sucks to say this, but they might need to remove classic teams for some time & go back to just decade teams.

Seems it is getting more & more difficult for them to acquire & maintain player likeness rights.

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

[Hey_Rebby]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

I don't understand why any player would turn down this opportunity.

A) You are in a video game; your legacy lives on. Even for the role/bench players. Younger fans will learn about you by either playing the classic teams or more likely getting your card in MyTeam.

B) There is no alternative. If you don't agree to allow your likeness, you get $0. It's not like you have multiple gaming companies competing for your rights and you're holding out for the highest bidder. I don't understand what Barkley and Reggie are gaining by not agreeing. They would be getting some money for doing nothing but signing a piece of paper.

I'm 44, long past the target demo for 2k, so I'm afraid people like me who utilize the classic teams/players 90% of the team are few and far between, thus this doesn't get a lot of attention.

[ksuttonjr76]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

I don't understand why any player would turn down this opportunity.

A) You are in a video game; your legacy lives on. Even for the role/bench players. Younger fans will learn about you by either playing the classic teams or more likely getting your card in MyTeam.

B) There is no alternative. If you don't agree to allow your likeness, you get $0. It's not like you have multiple gaming companies competing for your rights and you're holding out for the highest bidder. I don't understand what Barkley and Reggie are gaining by not agreeing. They would be getting some money for doing nothing but signing a piece of paper.

I'm 44, long past the target demo for 2k, so I'm afraid people like me who utilize the classic teams/players 90% of the team are few and far between, thus this doesn't get a lot of attention.

Some former players just genuinely don't care video games. It's not like they're "hurting" for money.

[XM20]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

I have some fairly good news. I went through the historic draft classes and it seems they left some players in there by accident. Darren Collison is still in the 2009 draft class. Also Nick Collison is still in the game on the 2012 Thunder.

There are some other miscellaneous players in the draft classes that probably shouldn't be in the game because they weren't on rosters last season.

2016 Draft - Malachi Richardson

2017 Draft - Tyler Dorsey

2018 Draft - Vincent Edwards

[jk31]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

I have some fairly good news. I went through the historic draft classes and it seems they left some players in there by accident. Darren Collison is still in the 2009 draft class. Also Nick Collison is still in the game on the 2012 Thunder.

There are some other miscellaneous players in the draft classes that probably shouldn't be in the game because they weren't on rosters last season.

2016 Draft - Malachi Richardson

2017 Draft - Tyler Dorsey

2018 Draft - Vincent Edwards

but thats maybe because 2k has the rights to These players but still dont want them to be in the free agent Pool because they are retired. so they can use them for draft classes and for my Team cards.

[daveberg]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

No great losses for me personally, so far, but some nice additions though.

[TonGunne]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

Players removed from NBA 2K21

- Darren Collison
- Tyreke Evans
- Shaun Livingston
- Jeremy Lin
- Lance Stephenson
- Zaza Pachulia
- Devin Harris
- Luol Deng
- Andrew Bogut
- Nick Young
- Raymond Felton
- Jose Calderon
- Channing Frye
- Timofey Mozgov
- Nick Collison
- Omer Asik
- Jerryd Bayless
- Dante Cunningham
- Jon Leuer
- Quincy Pondexter
- Ian Clark
- Wes Unseld
- Jerry Sloan



Players Added To NBA2K21:

- Kirk Hinrich - All Time Bulls
- Lamar Odom - All Time Clippers
- Manu Ginóbili - All Time Spurs, 04-05 Spurs & 13-14 Spurs
- Luis Scola - 07-08 Rockets, 13–14 Pacers
- Rafer Alston - 07-08 Rockets
- Landry Fields - 11-12 Knicks

All Time Team Additions:

Khris Middleton - Milwaukee Bucks

Reggie Theus & Kirk Hinrich - Chicago Bulls

Lamar Odom & Kawhi Leonard - LA Clippers

Ja Morant & Jaren Jackson Jr - Memphis Grizzlies

Trae Young - Atlanta Hawks

Bam Adebayo - Miami Heat

De’AaRon Fox - Sacramento Kings

Lebron James - LA Lakers

Domantas Sabonis - Indiana Pacers

Brandon Ingram - New Orleans Pelicans




So far that’s what I’ve found via small amount of leaked footage I’ve seen.

I will update with a complete list including players removed once I get my hands on the game and the day 1 patch & roster is released.

Andrea Bargnani was added to All Time Raptors team

[Daddy123]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

I don't understand why any player would turn down this opportunity.

A) You are in a video game; your legacy lives on. Even for the role/bench players. Younger fans will learn about you by either playing the classic teams or more likely getting your card in MyTeam.

B) There is no alternative. If you don't agree to allow your likeness, you get $0. It's not like you have multiple gaming companies competing for your rights and you're holding out for the highest bidder. I don't understand what Barkley and Reggie are gaining by not agreeing. They would be getting some money for doing nothing but signing a piece of paper.

I'm 44, long past the target demo for 2k, so I'm afraid people like me who utilize the classic teams/players 90% of the team are few and far between, thus this doesn't get a lot of attention.

The more interesting thing is Barkley always caving in to allow 2K to use his olympics one but not nba one lol. I can admire his demand to help the retired players though. I am not sure if hes worth 2 mil for 2K

Reggie has never spoken about it, idk why he would never agree, he seems like a guy who would agree right away

[Real2KInsider]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

It sucks to say this, but they might need to remove classic teams for some time & go back to just decade teams.

Seems it is getting more & more difficult for them to acquire & maintain player likeness rights.

The 2013 Grizzlies are in the game and only have 5 players.
Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Zach Randolph, Ed Davis, Marc Gasol

2K typically removes teams when they drop that low (2008 Hornets, 1971 Hawks).

If they're gonna leave that team in the game there's really no good reason they shouldn't simply release the 2010 Lakers as a 5-man squad.

[VDusen04]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

2K has been bleeding classic players. For every one they decide to keep they lose 10 more.

It sucks to say this, but they might need to remove classic teams for some time & go back to just decade teams.

Seems it is getting more & more difficult for them to acquire & maintain player likeness rights.

As someone who uses classic teams more than anything else in 2K, both of these comments are a bit dramatic, in my opinion.

We've got something like 65 proper classic teams now (including 27 All-Time teams and 4 or 5 All-Decade teams). Even if 10 classic teams were too severely diminished (like, say, the 2013 Grizzlies) and subsequently eliminated, we'd still have 55 classic teams to work with.

From what I worked with in 2K20, most classic teams still have almost all of their core intact. Every Jordan Bulls team, Bird Celtics, Magic Lakers, Isiah Pistons, Duncan/Robinson Spurs, Ewing Knicks, Hakeem Rockets, Shaq Magic, and so on have more than plenty of integral depth. Even a large amount of 2000's teams have most of their key cores available.

Looking at the players removed from the game this year, it actually looks like that pocket of 2010-ish-2013 classics that'd be most affected. And from what I've observed throughout the NBA 2K classic era (starting in 2K11), the recent retirees (or recently deceased) are always the trickiest, since the former often hasn't joined the Retired NBAPA and the latter face uncertain estate rights. So, in the case of guys like Lin, Leuer, Nick Young, Nick Collison, etc, that's pretty much par for the course. 2K will either reinstate them once they join the RNBAPA or they'll be Tayshaun Prince'd.

Speaking of Prince...

Love the classic teams in 2K & I appreciate the effort, but at the same time I would almost rather not have a team in the game that doesn't have their full roster...

I'm still an advocate of retaining teams that have solid numbers but missing key players. Since we have the ability to fully edit every team, I'd take 2004 Pistons jerseys, Pistons court, Palace arena art, and Ben Wallace, Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Lindsey Hunter, Darvin Ham, Corliss Williamson, Elden Campbell, and Darko Milicic over nothing at all, every day of the week.

I understand that team's incomplete for online use, and online use is a big part of the experience for a lot of players, but considering it takes little to no effort to keep a team included that's already been created, I figure it may as well be worth it to keep those teams included for folks like me, who have no issue creating or downloading my own versions of the missing players (Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Mehmet Okur) and having a great time.

[RockHogan]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

It sucks to say this, but they might need to remove classic teams for some time & go back to just decade teams.

Seems it is getting more & more difficult for them to acquire & maintain player likeness rights.

Official HQ of Bills Backer/Spurs Nation

There are still a lot of gamers who just don't play with todays teams like me. I just play with classic rosters so it would be dumb to let go of the legends. Many NBA Fans loved NBA from the 80s 90s and 00s and don't like the league like it is today

[ksuttonjr76]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

There are still a lot of gamers who just don't play with todays teams like me. I just play with classic rosters so it would be dumb to let go of the legends. Many NBA Fans loved NBA from the 80s 90s and 00s and don't like the league like it is today

This was such a "get off lawn" comment...

[WeFireThoseCannons]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

As hilarious as that idea is LMAO.

I could see it either bring more attention to those 2 players. Or I could see us coming up really short money wise and realizing it will never happen

haha Chuck and Reggie not signing their likeness away unless its millions and millions.

[WeFireThoseCannons]

Re: Players Added and Removed in NBA 2K21

They should probably remove Zach Randolph if he is still in as he retired but add him to legend Grizz team.


Nikola Mirotic should be taken out all together because he is never coming back to NBA after winning MVP in Euroleague. He also didn't like the NBA feel after the Portis punching incident.