In baseball, there is the home run. In football, there is the touchdown. In hockey, there is the slapshot goal. And in NBA 2K22, there is the slam dunk. Basketball fanatics have a leg up on these other sports, however, touchdowns, home runs, and goals are events that happen only sometimes. For gamers who make the right build in NBA 2K22, however, the slam dunk can be an exciting event that happens over thirty times per game, if they build their player right.
However, many players are stymied on why their slam dunk monster isn't slamming the ball into the net. They either pull up for sad little bunny layups or get stuffed at the rack. This is incredibly frustrating, especially for those who poured a ton of VC into their MyPlayer. Here are the tricks involved in building a slam dunk machine without equal.
Updated on April 22nd, 2022 by Hodey Johns: Want to be the new jam master? It's incredibly effective and fun. And it's not just about scoring either (although that will certainly be the highlight). The assists come too easily as defenders double up during the slash to the basket. Playing near the basket and with a height advantage over other guards, rebounds are also assured. Averaging a triple-double is only the tip of the iceberg. This build has maximum defensive attributes and badges, so a quadruple and quintuple-double aren't out of the question. This guide has been updated with more about playcalling and what teams to join to further enhance the dunking greatness.
Play A Point Guard
It's not hard to see why so many players have a tough time dunking the ball. It starts at the very beginning when they pick their position. And it's hard to blame those who can't seem to crack the code because common sense yields the wrong answer. Think of the best dunkers in NBA history. Darryl Dawkins (center) forced the league to update the backboards after he broke two of them in the 1979 season. Blake Griffin (power forward) jumped over cars and is a regular posterizer. And Michael Jordan (shooting guard) and Vince Carter (small forward) wowed fans with their aerial dynamics.
So when players think of dunkers, the very last position on their minds is likely the Point Guard. Yet that is what works best in NBA 2K22. The others are capable of getting off dunks, even good dunks, but point guards have the best mismatch at their position and a better package of dunks.
Go All In On Defense
The finishing chart is the easy choice here, but it is also the wrong one. Remember that this build will be getting mostly uncontested shots, so most of these badges are not important. Also, the maximum defensive skill breakdown offers the fastest speed in the game.
This is a double whammy for opponents, both human and AI. Not only will the offensive dunks be ridiculous, but the point guard will be capable of neutralizing any opponent, even ones that maximize offense. Plus, the height of this player will be capable of blocking even the tallest centers, so just switch off on screens, don't bother fighting around them.
Max Out Agility
Once again, this isn't going to make a lot of sense from an outsider's perspective. By sacrificing all strength to get through defenders and jumping ability to reach the rim, aren't those the two most important parts of dunking? The trick to this build is that players will be going around and past defenders, not through them.
By making agility the top statistic, the MyPlayer gets the best speed possible and this is critical to the build. With other pie charts, this requires making the athlete absurdly short, in which case the player actually can't dunk or will be easily blocked.
Setting The Potential
Close Shot | 83 |
Driving Layup | 80 |
Driving Dunk | 85 |
Standing Dunk | 54 |
Post Hook | 54 |
Mid-Range Shot | 35 |
Three-Point Shot | 35 |
Free Throw | 80 |
Post Fade | 30 |
Pass Accuracy | 76 |
Ball Handle | 77 |
Post Control | 28 |
Interior Defense | 56 |
Perimeter Defense | 95 |
Lateral Quickness | 95 |
Steal | 95 |
Block | 60 |
Offensive Rebound | 51 |
Defensive Rebound | 77 |
Although only three stats are necessary, invest points in finishing until the build has fifteen badges in that category. These will come in extremely useful later. For shooting, it's important to max out Free Throw. Even though this build does not need a single badge in that area, opponents will be hacking this player constantly when they can't catch up. In an average game, prepare to shoot at least ten free throws.
This year, it's easier to strip the ball from a player driving to the hoop, so maxing out Ball Handling will put a stop to this (along with some badges to be mentioned later). Lastly, go wild on defense and make sure to get the maximum of thirty badges. These will be used to generate turnovers which will lead to more dunks.
Adjusting Physicals
This is where all that investment in speed pays off. Players can be the quickest player in the entire NBA and still be 6'5". The weight needs to be lean at 178, but because strength is irrelevant to this dunker build, that's no big deal.
At this height, it will be simple to block shots and get rebounds against opposing point guards. Unless using this exact build, they'll either be at a substantial height or speed disadvantage. More often than not, they'll be inferior in both categories.
The final nail in the coffin will be increasing the wingspan to the maximum length of 86", really deleting any chance opponents have of scoring against this build.
Be A Slasher
Although the Lockdown Defender can be tempting for extra turnovers, it's only situationally useful and, by the point in the game where takeovers are used, opponents will have stopped using the player assigned against the MyPlayer to score. So the extra defense won't come in too useful.
The Slasher takeover, on the other hand, can be used virtually anytime on offense. The one way that defenders can stop this build is by bringing extra bodies to guard the rim. The Slasher takeover reduces the effectiveness of this strategy and allows the player to dunk even when the lanes appear to be closed.
Critical Badges
- Fast Twitch
- Limitless Takeoff
- Posterizer
- Slithery FInisher
- Unstrippable
The fifteen total badges for finishers are perfect because they enable the MyPlayer to get gold badges on all five badges that will make a difference. Fast Twitch and Limitless Takeoff are new to the game this year, and they work together to speed up animations for the dunk and start them earlier. Having played several games again human and AI opponents, they are absolutely overpowered. Unless somebody is assigned to guarding the rim exclusively, it's all over.
- Downhill
- Unpluckable
- Needle Threader
Downhill maintains speed while in transition with the ball. After getting the inbound pass, charge the net every time. If a defender closes off the lane, pass to the newly open player (Needle Threader will make sure that the pass arrives safely). Usually, this player will be wide open, enabling them to pull off a free shot.
Due to the new strip animations and bonuses, Unpluckable is more important than ever. Shooting badges and defense/rebounding badges are unimportant for dunking, so feel free to flex some creativity there.
Choose A Fitting Team
Many players get this whole build set up perfectly and then find the team that drafts them has no need for a dunking point guard; they need a three-point shooter or an assist aficionado for their souped-up interior scorers. That's not a good situation.
Choose a team that has good three-point shooters to pass to for when defenders close the lane. To grab those rebound dunks, match up with forwards and centers that play well on the perimeter instead. Good screen setters are also a perk. Most importantly, make sure the team in question actually needs a point guard (for example, Steph Curry makes the Warriors a bad choice).
Clear Out The Paint
This build will get double-digit highlight dunks off every game regardless of the situation. But gamers who master playcalling can score one-hundred or more points all on their own with the jam. How do they do it? Playcalling.
Queue up plays that have the center and forwards playing on the outside of the arc. This frees up the interior. Given the speed of this build, the defenders on the outside, no matter how talented, will have no chance at catching the MyPlayer. For added freedom, have the center set a screen and go around it to shake the defender with minimal difficulty.
Equip a fun dunk package and enjoy the fireworks!
NBA 2K22 was released on September 10th, 2021, and is available for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.