Don’t waste your time upgrading these NBA 2K25 badges

NBA 2K25 has reduced the number of badges significantly, almost halving the options you have to pick from, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still some bad options.

While 2K24 featured a staggering 77 badges, its sequel has just 40, with many badges either being removed or merged. 2K Games’ justification was that they wanted to make every badge “feel valuable and equally desirable,” but some badges always outperform others in the end.

Badge Points are long gone, but you still need to invest in specific stats to unlock badges and upgrade them. As such, focusing on one badge could cost you another one that would have been more impactful to your build.

Here are five badges you want to avoid upgrading in NBA 2K25, ordered based on how worthless each is. All of these are either not worth the investment required or provide underwhelming benefits that leave them outclassed by other options.

5. Ankle Assassin

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Starting out with a controversial inclusion, Ankle Assassin is an iconic badge that will have your dribble moves tripping defenders up. While breaking ankles is certainly entertaining, this badge’s actual value is questionable, with it unlikely to be the reason you ever win a game.

This badge is simply too inconsistent for you to rely on it as a game-winning move, with even Legend Ankle Assassin not triggering half the time. Furthermore, it requires 95 Ball Handling to get HoF, and any tier below that isn’t even worth considering.

Instead, we recommend only going up to 92 Ball Handling, as that unlocks Gold Unpluckable and Steph Curry’s dribble moves.

4. Bailout

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With a requirement of 85 Pass Accuracy for just Bronze, Bailout is one of the most expensive badges in NBA 2K25. Those wanting HoF will need 96 Pass Accuracy, which greatly limits your build’s potential elsewhere. Even worse, all you gain is slightly more forgiving kickouts, something that shouldn’t matter if you play smart.

92 is the highest Pass Accuracy worth going for, as that unlocks HoF Dimer. For those wanting to be a playmaker, Dimer is a much more impactful badge to get your teammates scoring, as it boosts their shot percentage. If you aren’t a playmaker, skip this badge entirely. The situational benefits it provides aren’t worth giving up stats and badges in other key areas.

3. Mini Marksman

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Mini Marksman is a unique shooting badge that is only available to builds under 6’4″. When equipped, it makes shot contests from larger defenders have less impact, mitigating your build’s diminutive frame. While this sounds useful, the reality is that the kind of shots where Mini Marksman activates are shots you shouldn’t be taking in the first place.

There’s no world where a 6′ PG trying to shoot over a 7′ center is a good idea. If you get this mismatch, you are better off using your superior speed to create an open look. To be fair, this has similar requirements to meta badges like Deadeye, Set Shot Specialist, and Limitless Range, so it’s fine to unlock, but don’t go out of your way to upgrade shooting just for this badge.

2. Float Game

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Float Game is a simple badge that makes floaters more effective. It’s always useful to have more ways to score, so you would expect Float Game to be a good badge to priotize. However, higher tiers of this badge require a high Close Shot, which is something only recommended for Glass Cleaners, Athletic Finishers, and Post Scorers, three archetypes that have little use for floaters.

Ironically, the builds that would benefit from Float Game are ball handlers and shot creators, but it’s not worth investing in Close Shot or even Driving Layup on these builds over Driving Dunk. As a result, anything above Silver is a waste of stat points that would be better off spent elsewhere. With how NBA 2K25 is currently balanced, this just isn’t a badge worth upgrading.

1. Post Lockdown

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Post Lockdown is one of those badges that is great when needed but is rarely ever needed. It improves a defender’s ability to stop post moves like post spins and dropsteps. While this can be useful against Post Scorers, you need 93 Interior Defense and 97 Strength to get this HoF, which is extremely expensive and will hurt your build in the long run.

In 5v5, good Post Scorers are far too rare to justify upgrading this badge, and in the park, you’ll want to be a versatile defender, not a post-defending one trick. Most centers won’t want to go above 84 Interior Defense to unlock HoF Paint Patroller, which is a much more impactful badge than Post Lockdown, especially given how strong slashing builds are this year.

Making your build is only half the battle, as you’ll still need to upgrade it. To speed up this process, learn more about how to get fast VC and where to claim Daily Spin rewards. You’ll also want to master NBA 2K25’s mechanics, like its new shot meter, dunk packages, and the Player Lock feature.