Have you ever wondered to what extent does each badge affect various stats in NBA 2K17? The team at NBA2K Lab has gone about answering the question in a scientific way and brought their results to us. With the research done, you’ll be able to judge for yourself which badges are worth attaining the most.
They began with Pick Pocket. In the first test, which tests the ability to steal from a ballhander, they paired up a player with lockdown defense against players of various ball handling archetypes to attempt 250 steals. They ran this test with Bronze, Gold, and Hall of Fame badges, and also with no badge for comparison. The results show that against a playmaker archetype, the defender will steal roughly one out of every twenty times with the Hall of Fame badge as opposed to only one out of every hundred times with no badge. These numbers increased dramatically on the lower archetypes.
| OPPONENT BALL HANDLING | BADGE | STEAL % | FOUL % | POKE FREE % | FORCE PICKUP % | FAILED ATTEMPT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 94 | Bronze | 3% | 13.5% | 1.5% | 9% | 73% |
| 87 | Bronze | 4% | 12.5% | 4.75% | 11% | 67.75% |
| 80 | Bronze | 5.25% | 12.25% | 5.75% | 11.25% | 65.5% |
| 73 | Bronze | 5% | 12.25% | 6.25% | 11% | 65.5% |
| 94 | Gold | 3.75% | 12% | 2.25% | 11% | 71% |
| 87 | Gold | 5.5% | 12% | 4% | 11.25% | 67.25% |
| 80 | Gold | 6.25% | 11.25% | 6.5% | 11.5% | 64.5% |
| 73 | Gold | 9% | 10% | 7.5% | 12.25% | 61.25% |
| 94 | Hall of Fame | 5% | 11.25% | 2.75% | 9.5% | 71.5% |
| 87 | Hall of Fame | 6.75% | 10.25% | 5.5% | 10% | 67.5% |
| 80 | Hall of Fame | 8.25% | 10% | 7.75% | 12.25% | 61.75% |
| 73 | Hall of Fame | 10.75% | 7.5% | 8.75% | 14% | 59% |
| 94 | None | 1.25% | 16% | 1.75% | 10.25% | 70.75% |
| 87 | None | 4.25% | 15.75% | 3.75% | 10.75% | 66.5% |
| 80 | None | 4.5% | 16.25% | 4% | 11% | 64.25% |
| 73 | None | 4.75% | 16% | 4.25% | 11.25% | 63.75% |
In the second of the defensive tests, they tested the Lockdown Defender capability of lowering shooting accuracy. To do this, they set up 2,000 jump shots with Paul George, and tested this against players with each badge, as well as unequipped. The numbers were far more dramatic, with the difference in shot accuracy being 23.6% with the Hall of Fame badge equipped, as opposed to 48.4% with no badge equipped.
| BADGE | NUMBER MADE | SHOOTING % |
|---|---|---|
| Hall of Fame | 118 | 23.6% |
| Gold | 144 | 28.8% |
| Bronze | 179 | 35.8% |
| None | 242 | 48.4% |
So do the badges matter? Yes, with varying degrees. While these badges may not help you create turnovers on the fly, they can certainly force your opponents to play a better defensive game than you due to the loss of shooting accuracy.
If you would like to test the results yourself with the same or different players, above is a video of how they set up the Defensive Stopper test.
Stay tuned for more of our NBA 2K17 Badge Analysis here at Sports Gamers Online and be sure to checkout our friends over at nba2klab.com.
