Boosts are one of the most consistent parts of the NBA 2K series, providing either a boost to specific attributes or your player’s stamina. In this post we break down whether you should buy them for your player.

Skill Boosts

There are six categories of skill boosts, which cost either 200VC for one game, or 1500VC for 10 games. Here are the categories and whether you should spend your VC on them:

  • Jump Shots: Boosts your 3pt and Midrange ratings. We recommend these for most online games, because any boost to the most important part of the game is welcome. Pricey but worthwhile.
  • Ballhandling/passing: Gives a boost to your Speed with Ball, ball handle, etc. Unless you’re an iso-heavy player, these aren’t worth the price.
  • Layups/Dunks: Not really worth it. We haven’t see a situation where you’d actually get a real benefit from these.
  • Steals: May be helpful in steal-happy environments like the Rec, but steals are already overpowered in 2K23.
  • Blocks: Undersized centers are the biggest beneficiary of this boost, but I never noticed anything special while using these on a 7’0″ center.
  • Rebounding: Another boost that I didn’t see that much of a difference while using. They’re nice if you get them for free from the daily spin or events, but otherwise are not worth the VC.

Essentially, we really only recommend Shooting boosts. They work pretty well and shooting is certainly the most important part of NBA 2K24. And you should earn more than 150VC per game, so you don’t burn VC by buying them.

Gatorade Boosts

Gatorade boosts are all for stamina, and are far pricier than skill boosts. At 500VC for one game, or 3500VC for 10 games, they are an expensive accessory. There are three types of Gatorade Boosts:

  • Gatorade Super Shake: Slow down energy loss (RT/R2) by 25%
  • Gatorade Thirst Quencher: Increase energy (RT/R2) by 20%
  • Gatorade Zero with Protein: Recover energy (RT/R2) 25% faster than normal.

Are they worth it? At such a high cost, we don’t believe so in many cases. If you are an iso dribbler, then you’ll want to make the investment. But other positions, who really only lose stamina on defense, probably won’t get a huge boost from something that costs more than most players earn from a park game.