NBA 2K23: Best budget players for MyTeam (January 2023)

NBA 2K23’s version of MyTeam can get expensive quickly. If you’re trying to keep up with the Joneses and have all of the top-rated players, you’ll likely need to spend quite a bit of real-world cash or get ludicrously lucky. Luckily, if you know where to look you can actually find quite a few players who will do nearly as well as those expensive players without spending money. Below, we’ve collected some of our favorite budget players as of January 16

Related: How to earn VC fast in NBA 2K23

Which budget players are worth it in NBA 2K23 MyTeam?

The idea of budget players means different things to different people. For our purposes, we’re only looking at players you can get for under 20,000 MT. If even that’s too much for you, there are always new players to earn through gameplay. We won’t collect them all below as they go in and out of the mode all the time, but check through your Agendas before you plunk down any MT. You can also take a look at the Token Rewards players to see if any of them fit your needs. Let’s take a look at the best budget players in MyTeam.

Best budget Point Guards

The first thing we would tell you to do is grab a friend and win 50 games in Triple Threat Co-op. That gets you Transcendent Penny Hardaway, who is one of the best PGs in the game regardless of budget. It’s also one of the quicker grinds this season, so we wanted to highlight it here.

Otherwise, it kind of comes down to what you need. Nightmare Terry Rozier has one of the purest shots in the game, but is a bit undersized for online play. If you want some size, your options are pretty slim unless you have a lot of MT to burn. Fireworks Kevin Porter Jr. (who you can earn from the Season 4 battle pass) is 6’6″ but he’s obviously not going to match up with guys like Penny or Main Even Magic Johnson online. If you can’t grab Penny, you might consider grinding the Trophy Case to get Russell Westbrook for this position.

Best budget Shooting Guards

Depending on what you’re looking for at SG, there are all kinds of options. If you need defense, you might look at Diamond Nightmare Ron Artest or Lance Stephenson from the same set. For pure scoring, we love Glitched Drazen Petrovic’s shot. Terrance Ross and Morris Peterson from the Fireworks set can also light up the scoreboard.

You could also stretch your budget just a bit here and pick up Flash Forward Richie Guerin. He’s a bit on the small side, but we think his shot is super easy to green, making him a good player if you need buckets.

Best budget Small Forwards

The small forward position might be the strongest in the game. There are so many top-end players to choose from, which makes it easy to get great players in the budget range. We love Zen Thurl Bailey, who you will actually get for free as you work through the Season 4 battle pass. That said, he’s not very expensive if you don’t want to wait. He has incredible size at the position (6’11”), making him a great defender and rim runner.

Sticking with the theme of size, the other players we like at SF are Tis the Season Jonathan Issac (6’11”) and Fire Rudy Gay (6’8″). Like Bailey, both guys are good defenders with their size, though Gay is the best shooter out of the bunch. Finally, if you can stretch your budget a bit, Flash Forward Bailey Howell is just over the 20K mark and is a great option for the position.

Best budget Power Forwards

Our current favorite option for the Power Forward position is Flight School Serge Ibaka. He’s relatively cheap, but brings great defense, can attack the rim, and even has some utility as an outside shooter. The Diamond version of Fire Giannis Antetokounmpo is also solid with Giannis always being a great 2K player.

Other options we’ve had success with are Fire Obi Toppin for his excellent rim running, ‘Tis the Season Evan Mobley for his size, and Ice Aleksej Pokusevski if you’re on a razor-thin budget. Finally, if you want a pure shooting option, you can evolve Silencers Robert Horry into a Diamond, making him a decent option.

Best budget Centers

Tis the Season Evan Mobley can come in and play Center as well, given his size, but we like him better at PF. For our money, your best bet is to evolve the Intensity Tyson Chandler into a Diamond. His body type is just so massive that it’s impossible to not keep him here as a budget option.

If you want to meme a bit, you could grab Tis the Season Tacko Fall. He might not be the best player in the game, but he’s a giant among giants with a huge player model. Diamond Zen Shaquille O’Neal is a big drop off from his Pink Diamond, but he can be good for players who like to live in the paint. That said, we’d just stick with Chandler for now.

We will keep this guide updated throughout the season as new players are added to NBA 2K23 MyTeam.