The traditional 1v1 mode of Play Now Online is back with new enhancements that include the return of Leagues, an improved progression and ranking system, and more.
Leagues & Ranking System
Leagues return for PNO using a five-level ranking system: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and GOAT to determine your skill level.
Players start out at a Bronze level with all 30 current NBA teams to choose from. To gain access to the expanded list of teams, you’ll need to level up by earning “Victory Points” from winning games. Here are the rewards per level:
- Bronze to Silver: Unlocks ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s eras teams
- Silver to Gold: Unlocks 2000s era teams
- Gold to Platinum: Unlocks 2010s era teams
- Platinum to GOAT: Unlocks a GOATED Team (new GOATED team each Season)
Players who earn enough points in the GOAT League receive a VC prize, an All-time Team, and Prestige for completing it. Also, top 100 players will receive an in-game logo, visible to everyone, to show off their accomplishment.
Tiers & Rewards
The rules of the PNO ranking system dictate that you can only use the same team once every five games, or until you level up to the next League. Also, leagues and points reset after each season.
Leagues use team overall ratings to group teams into three tiers. The worse your team is, the more Victory Points you can earn. This gives players more incentive to use lesser rated teams to rank up.
- Tier 1 – Win with one of the top 10 overall-rated teams in the NBA to receive the smallest amount of Victory Points
- Tier 2 – Win with teams ranked 11-20 overall to receive the medium amount of Victory Points
- Tier 3 – Win with teams ranked 21-30 overall to receive the largest amount of Victory Points
Accolades
Here are the Accolades for NBA 2K25 and how to earn them:
- Time Traveler – User unlocks all Eras teams
- Big Timer – User unlocks 15 All-Time teams
- All-Timer – User unlocks 30 All-Time teams
- Well Traveled: Win with every NBA team in Play Now Online
- Old School Pro: Win a game with every Eras team
- Timeless: Win a game with every All-Time team
- BAAAAAAAAAAAAH: Reach GOAT mode in 3 PNO seasons.
Conclusion
Play Now Online in maintains the same traditional expectations, but has been refreshed with new improvements and a cleaned up user interface for NBA 2K25.
