NBA The Run Wave One is here. Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, and Dirk Nowitzki join NBA The Run on Sept. 29 as part of the “Wave One – 2000s Legends” update, the 3v3 streetball game’s biggest drop since its June launch. Play by Play Studios, alongside the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, released a new trailer for the update.
The five are the first Hall of Famers in the game. According to the studio, they combined for 126,108 points and 55 All-Star selections. That’s a lot of mixtape footage to live up to.
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How to Unlock Iverson, T-Mac and the 2000s Legends in NBA The Run Wave One
Each legend costs 5,000 CRED, the currency you earn by playing matches and ranking up. That’s the same price as the shop’s rookie variants, like 2003 LeBron James. If you’d rather skip the reps, all five come as a $9.99 DLC bundle. The official NBA The Run X account says there’s no level requirement to unlock them.
Our review praised the game’s shop for not sleazily pushing players towards card packs and randomized rewards. A one-time bundle with a free path to the same players stays close to that pitch. CRED earning speed does depend on the player, but it’s nice to be able to earn the new players without spending real money.
As a Magic fan, this update is pretty exciting. The studio’s reveal puts McGrady in Orlando colors, a nod to the four seasons he spent in the City Beautiful, where he won back-to-back scoring titles in 2003 and 2004. The Bartow native is the first 5,000 CRED I’m spending.
Wave One’s Free Update Adds a Dyckman Court and Practice Mode
The rest of the update lands free for every player. The overhead Drive Cam and Drive Flip Cam join the camera options, while the older Action Cam goes away, per the studio’s August dev recap. The Dyckman NYC court comes in daytime and tournament variants. It gives Uptown’s most famous summer tournament a spot next to Rucker Park, which was already in the game.
Custom Matches let you create a private party, pick a court and ruleset, and play with or against a friend online. Practice Mode puts you against AI opponents on the court and ruleset of your choice. Yes, Practice Mode ships in the same update as Allen Iverson. The studio already made the joke, so I’ll let it go.
New dunks, taunts, and a Championship Belt for tournament wins round out the cosmetic side. The update also adds new original music and the game’s first licensed tracks. Play by Play hasn’t named any artists yet, and that tracklist is the first thing I’ll check on Sept. 29.
NBA The Run Nerfs Goaltending and Tips Off Its First Season
The gameplay changes include new standing dunks, driving layups, additional advanced moves and another round of player tuning. The studio’s Sept. 10 blog post put the biggest one plainly: goaltending is getting nerfed. Squads built around swatting shots off the glass will need a new plan.
Wave One also kicks off the game’s first official Season. Play by Play’s June roadmap slotted its first season, Summer Heat, for August and promised the month would be “Legendary.” August brought a smaller patch with leaderboards instead. The Drive Cam, Championship Belt, and Practice Mode from that Summer Heat list now arrive with Wave One. So do the legends, just a month later than expected.
About NBA The Run, We Said…
We gave NBA The Run a 9/10 at launch: “Play by Play Studios has built a strong foundation in NBA The Run, and if the team keeps listening, expanding the roster, and building out the community, the future of this franchise is bright.”
To mark the start of the NBA season, the Standard Edition ($29.99) will drop up to 34% off, and the Deluxe Edition ($39.99) will be 25% off across all platforms in the coming weeks. The PS5 sale is already live.
NBA The Run is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The “Wave One – 2000s Legends” update arrives Sept. 29.
