The third season of NBA 2K26 has been set in motion and this year too, it has come with the player discussions along with the new rewards season. The official NBA 2K account has indicated the new season by allowing the option to ‘flex on ’em’ along with the new rewards, mainly highlighting the Pro Pass which lets you access an additional 40 premium rewards and 4 automatic ones simply for upgrading. The event kicked off on November 28, 2025, at 8 a.m. PT, 11 a.m. ET, and 4 p.m. GMT; so, the European players could start playing it at 5 p.m. CET.
Nonetheless, the response of the community was… somewhere in between. The account Tea_Time_Trends was tweeting, ‘Level up your game with those extra rewards! #Season3 #ProPass’, but the overall mood was extremely upset. Player, lukegmorris93, bluntly stated, ‘What a bunch of garbage rewards.’ This viewpoint was seconded by user iMqddux who also slammed the rewards called them ‘so ahh🥀’ and by NoStopOnlyLoss who merely stated, ‘Get better rewards 2k’ to the developers.
The drawing rewards as promised in the advertisements seemed to be the major breaking point. A user, 60th_Hokage_Ace, ridiculed the decision of including a skateboard and wondered, ‘Yall could’ve given us a sleigh or some kind of Christmas vehicle. I bet yall drop the ball every yr. Yall need some new creative thinkers….’ Another player, TurboWet2K, could not comprehend why a ‘Black cyber helmet’ is being given away in a basketball game and pointed out its utter oddness.
The community didn’t just question the rewards but also the entire seasonal model of the game. A player named KiLLRchad made a valid point when he said, ‘What is the reason for playing this game after season 2? What is the purpose of seasons if there are no major gameplay updates or rank resets and such? Just to sell another battle pass and get more money from your users? This view was echoed by another user, Snaked2U, who stated, ‘This 2k thing has become fortnite with all these seasons, let me keep my badge plus badges and stop begging for money.’
The main criticism was directed to the battle pass but also to the very core of the game. Cheating complaints were very common with desiignergaming putting it, ‘Yall have only cheaters on yall game it’s sad on foe nem.’ Matchmaking and anti-cheat systems were also mentioned as ‘trash’ by SanAntonioEdm, who questioned who even cared about the ‘pointless rewards’ in the current online experience. The gameplay mechanics were also doubted since 999permxxx asked if the developers were going to keep ‘unlimited dribbles and everyone shooting 90 percent in the game.’
The players on the PC platform felt particularly overlooked, with dlocemas always inquiring, “When will the PC get the update?” and also suggesting the developers to “Update the game for your PC dads swiftly.” MyTeam fans also were left pondering where their content was, with mochilera94 tweeting, ‘Uhhhhh MyTeam news? MyTeam Season Rewards? New Domination? Spotlights…? Promo?!’
There was a flood of negative comments while at the same time, a little ray of positivity appeared. One of the players, PuffIsWhoIAm, shared the picture of a perfect game in Domination, which was not a big victory but a personal one in the larger ocean of disgruntledness. And the AI account Grok was still doing a good job in the replies, providing exact launch times for different time zones such as Nashville, TN (10:00 AM CST) and Europe (17:00 CET) for the players who just wanted to know when they could log in.
Ultimately, what is the verdict of NBA 2K26, Season 3? It brings a new Pro Pass, a slew of new cosmetic items, and yet, the major part of the player community is clearly not amazed. The rewards are being labeled as lazy and uncreative, the seasonal model is being depicted as a money-making scheme without significant gameplay updates, and issues like cheating, game balance, and platform support are still being brought up in the discussion. For a lot of players, it seems that the new season is not about flaunting new outfits but rather dealing with the same old issues only masked with a new wrapper. It is now the turn of 2K to draw its lessons from this loud feedback from its community. Who knows, they might just grant us the sleigh next season!
