NBA 2K17 Features League Expansion

Feature Article

Submitted on: 07/19/2016 by Erick Boenisch

Hello everyone! For those of you that don’t know me already, my name is Erick Boenisch, Senior Producer on NBA 2K17. Many of you may know me by my online handle, SimBaller. I’d like to be the first person to welcome you to NBA 2K17! The team here at Visual Concepts has been working relentlessly on this year’s game, and I’m extremely proud to show you one of the new features that we know you will all really enjoy.

NBA 2K17 features a simplified menu system that is both beautiful and streamlined. All of the modes within MyGM / MyLEAGUE feature an elegant setup flow that will guide you through the creation of your completely customized league, step-by-step.

For anyone who has read my blogs in the past, you know that I am serious about MyGM and MyLEAGUE. I'm blessed to work with a core group of people who share the exact same level of passion. We've done a LOT of work to these modes this year, and one feature I can't stop talking about is...League Expansion. This is entirely new to NBA 2K17, and is the feature I want to tell you about today.

League Expansion is, as it sounds, a way to grow your league beyond the 30-team NBA. When creating a new MyGM or MyLEAGUE, you have a few options on how you can handle the setup of your new league:

- Start with the current 30-team NBA, as it is structured now.

- Start a league with Expansion where you can instantly expand the league from 30 up to 36 teams (all with designs of your choosing).

- Or, you can start with a completely customized league (that can still include up to 36 teams) that may include realigned divisions, Expansion Teams, Classic teams, Edited/Rebranded NBA teams, Euroleague teams, and more.

The League Expansion feature allows you to create a league with up to 36 teams (with 6 teams being Expansion teams). For those wanting to exert more freedom, Custom League allows you to create a league with a mixture of Current NBA Teams, Classic NBA Teams, Expansion Teams, and Euroleague Teams.

Every possible configuration you could want is now at your fingertips. And I have more features to make the expansion process even easier for you. If creating all of the art assets for the team logo, arena, and uniforms is more than you can handle, I have two alternatives for you. First, we have 10 pre-built fictional franchises (complete with full audio and commentary support) built right in to the game. Pick your favorite one and off you go. Alternatively, you can now download complete team designs from the community in NBA 2K17. For example, if you know that you want your expansion team to be a Seattle Supersonics franchise, you can search through community uploaded team designs and instantly download one right into your new MyGM/MyLEAGUE. It couldn’t be simpler.

For my franchise heads out there, you already know that a proper league expansion is more than just new logo/uniform/stadium art. The entire experience surrounding the game has to support it. We’ve covered every detail required for a proper league expansion, including player protections, expansion drafts, and much, much more. A considerable amount of time was spent this year building an NBA schedule creation tool that dynamically generates balanced schedules with respect to your 31/32/33/34/35/36 team leagues. We then created dynamic menus for every menu in the game including the Draft Lottery and the Draft, with respect to how many teams are in the league. For example, when you have a 32-team league, that means you now have 16 teams in the lottery (up from the current 14), and all the mathematical odds of getting the #1 pick that go along with that new Draft Lottery format need to be updated. Simply put, we left no stone unturned, and we did it all for your enjoyment. Immerse yourselves.

For Expansion Teams, you can choose to: 1) Design your own team logo, uniform, and arena from scratch, 2) You can populate your league with a selection of fictional expansion teams we have built from the ground-up (complete with full audio and commentary support), or 3) You can browse Team Designs that other community members have uploaded. With only the press of a button, these Team Designs can easily be downloaded an inserted directly into your league.

League Expansion isn’t just a feature you can use when setting up your league. You can dynamically expand your league in the offseason, even after the mode has already started! Additionally, the league will approve expansion franchises dynamically on its own as you get further into your franchise. When that happens, you’ll need to make tough decisions about which of your players you want to protect, and which will need to be exposed for the impending Expansion Draft. It won’t happen very often, but when it does, it will shake up your league, without a doubt! For the MyLEAGUE users out there, you will have the ability to contract previously expanded expansion teams, should you choose to do so.

MyGM/MyLEAGUE has seen a LOT of great additions this year; I’ll get into the rest of those details a little closer to launch. We’re always looking for ways to innovate in the franchise space, and following on the heels of Team Relocation in NBA 2K16, League Expansion feels like the natural evolution moving forward with NBA 2K17. Let me know below how you plan on using the League Expansion feature. I’m excited to hear what everyone’s plans are!

Stay tuned folks, we’re just getting started here with the news drops for NBA 2K17…

Erick Boenisch

aka SimBaller

Member Comments

# 41 Godgers12 @ 07/19/16 02:50 PM

So with My League I'd be able to add expansion teams when ever, and when I do the process involved in that will automatically begin? I've always wanted to play as an expansion team, is that possible?

# 42 bigeastbumrush @ 07/19/16 02:55 PM

Would love to see the roster guys use this and create a 36 team NCAA league. College Hoops 2K17 here we come.

# 43 deetoman @ 07/19/16 02:55 PM

I saw a lot of great created team designs from 2k16 that I wanted to use. So now I'm excited that people can upload them so others can use.

# 44 ksuttonjr76 @ 07/19/16 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VizzyXV


	You start from the present day of the NBA in real time, so say it was Christmas Day, you'd start your league from then and all the stats/standings up to Christmas would mimic the real life NBA

That actually sounds like a damn good feature. It'll help those individuals who wait for a "complete roster" before starting their franchise mode.

# 45 trekfan @ 07/19/16 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 23


	Menus are looking real noice 2k! I was hoping you guys would take a page out of how it was done you know where... very clean modern design. Rebrand 6 teams total instead of 3.. am I getting that right? I guess what makes that cool is the expansion angle which makes things way more interesting. Now when I create the olympics tournament I won't have to use an old nba team to compensate for filling the full 30 team roster. You could also create an older favorite franchise without compromising a current team too. Put a team back in Vancouver and keep Memphis for example. Downloading designs right from the community...awesome! How much more time would that save many of us lol, but hopefully we can edit things even after we download. Too bad we saw nothing about designing alternate uniforms. That was one thing missing that would've been really cool. This is where the confusion starts Is it rebrand six teams or is it all?

Lack of alternate uniforms could be a thing -- I hope we get the ability to make some, too. It's not fair the Cavs can have 18 uniforms (or something like that) in the game and I'm restricted to making just two.

As for the expansion, my understanding of is is that you can start a MyLeague with the 30 current NBA teams PLUS creating 6 new teams, from scratch, to insert into the NBA at the beginning of the MyLeague (or during one of the offseasons of your MyLeague).

Quote:


	League Expansion isn�t just a feature you can use when setting up your league. You can dynamically expand your league in the offseason, even after the mode has already started!

So it's basically like a "Create-a-Team" feature within MyLeague and you're limited to 6 teams on top of the 30 current NBA squads, with relocation for those current NBA squads a possibility (this is not confirmed outright in the post, but one would expect that feature would carry over from 2K16).

# 46 Thetruth9012 @ 07/19/16 03:10 PM

Too bad that he didnt mentions nothing about contracy extenstions and players demanding more money in FA.

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# 47 zrohman @ 07/19/16 03:10 PM

With all of this customization there's no point if everything is limited to offline. The question is, do these features apply to online my league and does online my league last for more than one year

# 48 Clappington @ 07/19/16 03:11 PM

I may have skilled it but don't recall seeing it. Did they anything about MyLeague Online having progressing season to season? and not actually just repeating.

# 49 extremeskins04 @ 07/19/16 03:11 PM

So question, if you create an additional 6 teams for 36 total teams, does the game create all those fake players? So you end up with a bunch of generated players in the franchise?

Personally, I kinda would rather have just 30 teams because that's more realistic to the NBA.

# 50 gerg1234 @ 07/19/16 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by extremeskins04


	So question, if you create an additional 6 teams for 36 total teams, does the game create all those fake players? So you end up with a bunch of generated players in the franchise?

No, there is an expansion draft.

I wish NHL would have a My League mode with expansion.......I've wanted a good NHL game for so long.

# 51 extremeskins04 @ 07/19/16 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gerg1234


	No, there is an expansion draft. I wish NHL would have a My League mode with expansion.......I've wanted a good NHL game for so long.

Oh so you create the expanded league with 36 teams if you want, and then they do a fantasy draft with all current players?

# 52 SkillzFromThe6 @ 07/19/16 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigeastbumrush


	Would love to see the roster guys use this and create a 36 team NCAA league. College Hoops 2K17 here we come.

BRO I AM READY!!! COLLEGE/FIBA!!!! If we can rebrand all teams I'm about to go ham.

# 53 Mintsa @ 07/19/16 03:19 PM

How was NBA today different from Start today ??

Please spare me. I'm an online ranked match player !! LOL>

# 54 trekfan @ 07/19/16 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by extremeskins04


	So question, if you create an additional 6 teams for 36 total teams, does the game create all those fake players? So you end up with a bunch of generated players in the franchise? Personally, I kinda would rather have just 30 teams because that's more realistic to the NBA.

If I'm reading this right, then no, no fake players.

Quote:


	For my franchise heads out there, you already know that a proper league expansion is more than just new logo/uniform/stadium art. The entire experience surrounding the game has to support it. We’ve covered every detail required for a proper league expansion, including player protections, expansion drafts, and much, much more. A considerable amount of time was spent this year building an NBA schedule creation tool that dynamically generates balanced schedules with respect to your 31/32/33/34/35/36 team leagues. We then created dynamic menus for every menu in the game including the Draft Lottery and the Draft, with respect to how many teams are in the league. For example, when you have a 32-team league, that means you now have 16 teams in the lottery (up from the current 14), and all the mathematical odds of getting the #1 pick that go along with that new Draft Lottery format need to be updated. Simply put, we left no stone unturned, and we did it all for your enjoyment. Immerse yourselves.

Expansion teams get to "draft" their players from other team's rosters. The current teams must choose to "protect" up to 8 (I think?) of the players on their rosters and the expansion team is automatically awarded the highest odds in the draft lottery of getting the 1st overall pick (if I recall correctly).

The NBA hasn't had more than 1 expansion team join the league at any one time since the Magic, Heat, Hornets and Timberwolves joined in 1989 or 90 as I recall, but the expansion draft process has stayed largely the same since. It's part of the reason most expansion teams are horrible is that they're picking from the bottom 5-7 players on each team's roster and adding a high 1st round pick to that.

# 55 gerg1234 @ 07/19/16 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by extremeskins04


	Oh so you create the expanded league with 36 teams if you want, and then they do a fantasy draft with all current players?

Kind of. It'd be a 6 team draft of players that are currently on an NBA roster. Each NBA team gets to protect x number of players. Those that aren't protected are eligible to be drafted by the expansion teams.

# 56 TheRemiixedAce @ 07/19/16 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJWizards


	If we can re-locate and re-brand the ENTIRE LEAGUE then for me its Day-1 buy! I already cant wait to make a lot of Retro Roster if this is true!!!!

No doubt it's a day 1 buy for me too! I've been wanting to re-brand and re-locate all the teams for the sake of making classic or NCAA teams.

# 57 scottyp180 @ 07/19/16 03:26 PM

A lot to like here. Can't wait to see all the designs the community comes up with for teams. Not a big franchise guy but all the customizations make spark my creative juices.

Really loving Start Today and Playoff mode. I never like starting a franchise/season right at the beginning of the beginning of the year because so much can change (trades, injuries, players improving or regressing, etc). By the time I do start a franchise, if I do start one, it's usually late in the year and at a point where I can't catch up to the regular season. This will make it easy. I didn't even realize playoff was missing until the actual playoffs started. I was set to start my own playoffs only to find out the mode was no where to be found.

# 58 DIRK41NOWITZKI @ 07/19/16 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mintsa


	How was NBA today different from Start today ?? Please spare me. I'm an online ranked match player !! LOL>

From my understanding, NBA Today is a Play Now mode featuring all the games being played on that day. Start today is a mode in MyGM/MyLeague where you can start playing at any point during the current real life season and all the stats, roster moves etc. will be present in the game. The difference is one is just a Play Now mode and the other is for people who enjoy doing full seasons.

# 59 YungGun @ 07/19/16 03:28 PM

So glad start today is back. Hopefully it works with custom rosters...

# 60 swimfunk @ 07/19/16 03:29 PM

Sounds like my league online will be similar to 16. Sigh, I'm hopeful it entails multiple seasons but nothing in there from the small description on the image. Guess it's about that time of the year to get disappointed with 2K online leagues.

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