The official NBA 2K Twitter account posted a map showing which NBA team was the favorite of each state in the USA with NBA 2K26 MyCareer mode. The Milwaukee Bucks’ dominance was a surprise to many and the gamers’ community instantly started talking about player choice, game mechanics, and team popularity online.
So, the NBA 2K account just shared this map, right? No explanation, just a “Which team is your state representing? đź‘€” and a photo. Then you check it out, and… oh my God. It’s just a whole bunch of green deer emblems all over the place. Like, the Milwaukee Bucks are literally EVERYWHERE. I mean, from California to Florida to New York. Other teams are barely visible, with the Trail Blazers getting Oregon (naturally) and oddly South Dakota?? The Pistons have Michigan, the Grizzlies claimed Tennessee and the Nets somehow got New York state which will definitely create issues, we’ll talk about that later. But really, we are just existing in the Bucks’ world according to this 2K data.
And the replies were super quick. Gamers right away were trying to figure out why. Is Giannis Antetokounmpo that much of a draw? Is Milwaukee the best-kept secret among the most liked cities in America? The answer from the community in the comments section is that the popularity has much more to do with the game than with real-world fandom. A user going by the name Raise_The_Flagg was very straightforward: “Bucks aren’t popular it’s just that when u make a pg and enter the draft 90% of the time u get drafted by the Bucks.” Bam! There it is.
This started a whole line of confirmations. Another player, JayKitsuneTV, added that it is “easy mode” if you use a three-point shooting point guard in the same team with Giannis because of the inside-outside threat. So it is a strategic pick. Do you want to shine? Do you want to put up numbers? Then you go to a team where you can be the starter right away and have a superstar to support you. The Bucks, according to 2K26’s MyCareer logic, have an urgent need for point guards, so the game directs created players there through the draft. It’s not love, it’s the algorithm.
But that didn’t put an end to the pandemonium. The New York selection created total havoc. The map shows New York representing the Brooklyn Nets. Nets! In New York! Player JasonSchwe29346 couldn’t believe it: “How come the Knicks did not get the most selected team in their OWN STATE.” Another one, Collywobblin, just announced: “NYC, I will not admit Brooklyn.” The rivalry is still very much alive, even when it comes to digital choices, it seems. Modesto David agreed with him, saying that there is “no way” that fans in NY would choose the current Nets over the Knicks, thus making it clear that this map is about game mechanics, not emotions.
Someone pointed out that Portland is represented more than once (Oregon and that random South Dakota), which is just odd. A Bucks fan from Washington state remarked that they have no idea about any other Bucks fans there, again, underlining the disconnect. And naturally, international players felt excluded, with one of them asking “Where’s Canada? Or at least Southern Ontario?” Fair question, 2K. Fair question.
The most hilarious part could be the confusion of some players. One person questioned if the post was “related to Somali,” which, no. Another one, xdepo_ynx, was furious: “So you can pick teams??? Why the heck did I get drafted to Sacramento then???” That’s the mood. Total chaos mixed with strategic analysis. There was even a Japanese user, haru_bucks0922, who received a reply from Grok (the AI, apparently) giving him/her an explanation of the map and the Bucks phenomenon in Japanese, which is just a crazy aspect of this whole thing.
So what does all this mean? It is a very funny and somewhat brilliant reflection of how gamers engage with a sports sim. They are not necessarily choosing their favorite team all the time. They are outsmarting the system. They are searching for the best route to virtual stardom, the easiest way to score 50 points a game, the most reasonable team to take to win the championship. The Bucks have become the meta because of their roster in the game. The most efficient option. It is less about Wisconsin pride and more about min-maxing your MyCareer player. This little map accidentally uncovered the gameplay loop hidden beneath all the fancy graphics and presentations. Players here are making business decisions, not fan decisions, and many are doing so on their PlayStation or Xbox consoles.
