NBA 2K23: Best Finishing Badges

Whether you’re playing on NBA 2K23’s MyCAREER or MyTEAM modes, you’ll grow to realize that player badges are really useful, and at the same time, pivotal to your success. This is naturally more evident in MyCAREER, but still applies in MyTEAM where you do have the option to apply badges on players you acquire.

In NBA 2K23, there’s four different categories of badges: Shooting, Playmaking, Defense/Rebounding, and Finishing. Though many might gravitate on focusing on Shooting, Playmaking, and Defense, Finishing is actually one of the most underrated badge categories yet also one of the most important of the bunch.

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Whether you just got NBA 2K23 or have it already and want to make some changes, this guide is here to help you understand which Finishing badges are best in NBA 2K23.

With that said, we present you our very own Best Finishing Badges in NBA 2K23 and why down below.

Let’s have a look!

NBA 2K23: Best Finishing Badges

For this guide, we’ve listed our very own breakdown of all the finishing badges so that we could assess which are the best to have in NBA 2K23. However, to do so, we’re going to separate each of the badges into three tiers. This is our tier list:

• Tier 1: Finishing badges that will provide an impact no matter the position
• Tier 2: Finishing badges that have more of a situational purpose but are still effective
• Tier 3: Finishing badges that are mainly situational or designed for a specific position or role

So with that covered, let’s have a look at which finishing badges made which tier and why:

NBA 2K23 Finishing Badges: Tier 1

1. Fearless Finisher

If you love to finish around the rim and are passionate about driving to the hoop, Fearless Finisher is just the best Finishing badge you can have in NBA 2K23. What this badge essentially does, is it strengthens a players ability to absorb contact while still finishing through it. It also reduces the amount of energy lost from contact layups, which is huge seeing how often you’ll run into bigger defenders in the paint. This badge also comes with no height limitations, which again, is super clutch to have.

2. Giant Slayer

The Giant Slayer badge is a great one, boosting the shot percentage of a layup attempt when mismatched against a taller defender while reducing the possibility of getting blocked at the same time. Although this badge caters more towards smaller players who are driving to the hoop, this is the NBA we’re talking about, where just about all power forwards and centers loom large. So whether you’re a guard or even a forward, there’s definitely times this badge will come in handy throughout the course of the game when you drive.

3. Slithery

A big part of finishing in basketball, is done by completing layups. And to do so, you need to be able to maneuver by defenders in your way. This where Slithery comes into play, increasing a player’s ability to slide through traffic, protect the ball from being stolen, and avoid contact during gathers and finishes at the rim. Though some of you might rely on shooting the ball more, you’re going to drive to the hoop at some point if not often, and having Slithery is perfect for that. It also doesn’t come with any height restrictions.

4. Bully

If you want to be an imposing finisher, one that can just muscle off defenders and finish at the rim with efficiency, the Bully badge is for you. What the Bully badge does, is it improves a player’s ability to initiate contact and get to the rim on layups attempts. So when you’re driving to the hoop, and you have a similar-sized or smaller defender in front of you, you can legitimately nudge him off his spot with the Bully badge to make your finish much easier and non-contested. The Bully badge does come with a maximum height of 7’3″ and a minimum of 6’2″.

5. Limitless Takeoff

Should you be a big fan of dunking the ball in NBA 2K23, the Limitless Takeoff badge is one you will want to have. Sometimes when running up for a dunk, defenders can infringe on your ability to pull it off by timing their jumps or placing themselves where they need to be inside, forcing you to finish with a layup instead. Well this is where Limitless Takeoff comes in handy, allowing players to start their dunk attempt from father out than others when attacking the basket. This grants you a much better chance to complete your dunks as well as secure some posters in the process.

READ MORE: Best Shooting Badges in NBA 2K23

NBA 2K23 Finishing Badges: Tier 2

1. Pro Touch

For those of you worried about missing layups due to releasing too early or late on your attempts, the Pro Touch badge will do you wonders and is highly recommended. In short, when your player drives to the hoop, the Pro Touch badge will give an extra shot boost for having slight early, slightly late, or excellent timing on layups. In order to capitalize on this badge though, you must have ‘Layup Timing’ turned on in your settings. Coming with no height limitations, Pro Touch continues to be one of the most underrated finishing badges in the game.

2. Fast Twitch

Although this badge is geared for more specified situations, it’s still really helpful to have for both layups and dunking. When equipping Fast Twitch, the badge will speed up your player’s ability to get standing layups or dunks off before the defense has time to contest. Whether you’re playing against actual players or the CPU, defenders can act and or anticipate what you’re doing rather quickly. And being able to finish your dunk off in time or blow past your defenders for easy layups, will boost your efficiency with finishing at the rim. Fast Twitch has no height restrictions.

3. Masher

If you like the Pro Touch finishing badge, you might very will like the Masher one as well. The Masher Badge improves a player’s ability to finish well around the rim as well, but particularly over smaller defenders. Because this is naturally designed for taller players, it’s not the best badge to have for smaller guards. That said, forwards and centers that like to drive to the hoop often, will certainly appreciate the boost this grants to their finishing ability when driving over smaller defenders.

4. Posterizer

As the name of the badge conveys, Posterizer has mainly one specific yet wildly entertaining purpose: Bringing down the house with an emphatic poster dunk on an opposing defender. The reason it’s a Tier 2 badge, is because of how specified its use is. That said, who doesn’t like to throw down dunks on defenders in NBA 2K23? Though it’s a humiliating moment for your opponent, it’s arguably the most rewarding experience you can enjoy if you’re the one executing it.

5. Backdown Punisher

Should you be a player that really enjoys posting up defenders and exploiting them with your post game, the Backdown Punisher is a badge you’ll want to have. Upon equipping this badge, Backdown Punisher will allow your player to have more success than normal when backing down a defender in the paint when posting up. If you’re a guard or even a forward, this is a great badge to have if you’re all about producing in the post. To top it off, this badge has no height restrictions.

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NBA 2K23 Finishing Badges: Tier 3

1. Acrobat

If you are a fancy finisher around the hoop in NBA 2K23, the Acrobat Badge will boost your game tremendously. In short, any hop steps, euro-steps, cradles, reverses, and or change shot layup attempts, all receive a boost. And the ability to beat defenders with gathers is also improved. For a tier three badge, this is pretty big seeing how many different kinds of layup boosts it grants. But how many of those fancy finishes are really going to rely on in a game? Probably not many. Keep in mind that you need to be no taller than 7’0″ and no shorter than 5’7″ to use the Acrobat badge.

2. Dream Shake

Dream Shake allows for post move fakes to have a higher chance of stunning a defender while granting shot attempts following post fakes, shimmies, and shot fakes, to have a higher field goal percentage. Though this badge is geared more towards the post, it does help with shot fakes as well, which is big seeing how many times you might pump fake in a game to create a scoring chance. To go with it, the Dream Shake badge doesn’t have any height restrictions, making it a low key steal to pursue once you secure the Tier 1 and most of the Tier 2 badges.

3. Rise Up

When equipping the Rise Up badge, players will see an increase with the likelihood of dunking or posterizing on their opponents when standing in the painted area. So should you have a big center or power forward, this will be really helpful to have seeing how many alley-oop lobs you might call for or receive in a given game. The Rise Up badge does come with height restrictions, where you cannot be any shorter than 6’4″ and any taller than 7’3″.

4. Aerial Wizard

Aerial Wizard increases the ability to finish an alley-oop from a teammate, or putback a finish off an offensive rebound. As you can see, unless you’re a forward or center that can pull off these moves and find yourself doing so often, this badge shouldn’t be on the top of your priority list seeing how role-specific it is.

4. Dropstepper

If you thought the Acrobat badge was pretty specified with the layup moves you can do, the Dropstepper is even more so with post moves. In short, using this badge will increase your success when attempting post dropsteps and hop steps, while allowing you to protect the ball better when performing these moves in the post. Again, unless you’re a player that orients their game around scoring from the post, this badge should be at the bottom of your priority list as well.

6. Post Spin Technician

Last and definitely the least-important of the bunch, is that of the Post Spin Technician badge. In short, post spins or drives are performed more effectively, with a smaller chance of your player getting the ball stripped. Again, this is solely for players that do post spins or post drives. Should that be a big part of your game, than this badge will have more value to you. But if not, the Post Spin Technician badge should be on the bottom of your Finishing badge to-do list.

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