If you're running a Point Guard or Shooting Guard Build in NBA 2K26, chances are your go-to move is fading left and right behind screens all day. If you do, I've got some bad news for you. NBA 2K26's latest update has officially made pull-up fadeaway jump shots harder to hit.
It's Visual Concept's first gameplay-focused patch for NBA 2K26, and while this update is meant primarily to set up for a Season 2 launch on October 17, the gameplay changes are significant. So, we're going to talk about the most important part of this pre-season 2 update.
What Changed With Fadeaways?
According to the official patch notes:
- Increased the difficulty of making pull-up fadeaway jump shots, based on community feedback.
If you've been playing for quite some time now, you'd know that 6'8" SG builds or sniper PG builds with Gold Shifty Shooter have been dominating by doing one simple move: to fadeaway behind a screen. This negates any chance for the defense to contest the shot, and this update directly targets that kind of playstyle.
The nerf doesn't make fades entirely useless, though. You can still use them, and you can bet that good players will still find a way to hit those shots. Personally, I think that this update is meant to filter out those players who are abusing the move to make the game more competitive, especially for forwards and centers who have become the main target of those fadeaway shots.
Ghost Contests Are Finally Fixed
This might be even more important than nerfing the fadeaway shot:
- Adjusted shot contest logic to reduce inappropriately high coverage scores ("ghost contests") when not actively contesting shots.. After all,
If you're spending some time with your friends or squad at the Park or REC, you'd know that ghost contests are one of the most frustrating issues in NBA 2K26. This is because you'd be taking what looks like a wide-open shot, or break a defender's ankles, only to see a 21% contested pop-up. After all, a defender was somewhere in the same zip code as you.
Contesting shots are somewhat broken since launch because there are times when defenders are getting credit for contests that they might not be intentionally making. This update finally addresses this concern.
Rhythm Shooting Gets Tightened
Before we get down to what this update is all about. Let me first explain to you how shot mechanics work in NBA 2K.
The basic way to shoot a jumper is to hold down the shoot button, wait for the bar to fill up to the green area, and release. Rhythm shooting is an alternative way to shoot, but it is a lot more complicated than watching a meter spike up.
Rhythm Shooting is when you pull down the right stick to initiate a jump shot, wait for the set point to reach the player's elbow to 90 degrees, and that's generally when you want to start pushing up the right stick and flick to release the shot. It's a more "instinctive" way of taking jumpers, layups, or dunks that relies more on muscle memory rather than relying on a meter and being methodical.
So, what's getting changed in this update? Well, there's both good and bad news in this update. The good news is that NBA 2K26 is improving the reliability of rhythm shooting inputs so that your shots will register more consistently.
The bad news is that they've slightly tightened the window for both temp and timing, meaning that while your shots are more reliable, it's also less forgiving, so you'll need to be more precise with your releases.
Other Notable Gameplay Changes
Other notable changes include updates to player and coach likeness, hair dynamics, and tattoo updates.
The patch also fixes the ball collision detection whenever an opposing player dribbles right into a defender and during steal attempts. This should make defense feel more responsive and reduce the moments where the ball phases through a defender's hands.
There are also several dribbling improvements, including the ability to cancel standing in-and-outs and fixes to prevent unwanted behind-the-back escapes when you're doing a stepback. This particular part of the update might not look like much, but this will make the game look and play more realistically.
Now that we've discussed all the notable changes and the release date for the pre-season 2 update. The million-dollar question is:
Should You Adjust or Create a New Player Build?
The best answer that I could give you at this moment is to wait and see after everyone adjusts to the patch. The fade nerf doesn't necessarily make tall shooting guard builds obsolete, but rather it just balances out the game. Also, you shouldn't rely on just one move to be good in NBA 2K26 anyway.
There are all sorts of moves that you can do, such as stepbacks, hop steps, and side steps to get your shot up, and still be a scoring machine; it all depends on how you play the game.
The patch drops for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on October 14, while PC players won't get the update until the new season arrives on October 17. For a complete list of all the updates featured in the Season 2 patch, you can visit NBA 2K26's official patch note page here.
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