The August game update is almost here – today, in fact! – delivering new ways to compete, roster and player updates, more options to communicate with teammates and a variety of gameplay and balancing improvements. 

Today’s August game update will launch at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET. Full patch notes are here, but here’s a summary of what’s included:

• Leaderboards: This was originally a stretch goal for us, so we’re really excited to deliver it tomorrow. Players can now compare their performance against the world’s very best – or against friends – across KO Squads and Solos in virtually every major stat, including wins, win percentage, trophies, blocks, dunks, 3-pointers, and more. 

This is a new era for competition. While your all-time stats remain intact, Leaderboards start fresh today and everyone starts on equal footing. We’ll perform another leaderboard reset when our first official season begins and continue evolving the feature to ensure it best recognizes the top players in NBA THE RUN.

Can you climb into the top 3 and see your name in the bronze, silver or even gold position? Prove it if you’re truly one of NBA THE RUN’s GOATs.

• Player Roster Changes on their new teams: LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, LaMelo Ball, Ja Morant and Jaylen Brown will all have their new teams’ jerseys. Additionally, Anthony Edwards will also be sporting the new Timberwolves jersey and Devin Booker is sporting his new number. 

We’ve also kept each player’s previous team jerseys available, so if you want to run with LeBron on the Lakers or Giannis on the Bucks, the choice is yours. More jersey variants will continue to be purchasable in the Shop with CRED earned through play, just like other alternate jerseys.

• Updated Player Ratings: We’re updating player ratings and In the Zone abilities for a few players on new teams and the rookie players for balance. Latest Player Ratings video here.

• Emoji Wheel: Quickly communicate with your Crew teammates from the main menu lobby using a variety of emojis. Coordinate your next match by letting teammates know you’re ready to run it back, need a quick break, are leaving the Crew, or simply show your team how you’re feeling!

• New Gameplay Animations for blocking dunks, rebounded putback dunks, enhanced blocks and a rework of Darryn Peterson’s Advanced Spin move. 

• Gameplay balance and tuning: We’ve made a substantial tuning pass to improve overall balance and reward skillful play. Things we’ve adjusted include goaltending, steals, interceptions, rebounding, blocks, dunk consistency, In The Zone, and several other core mechanics. Full breakdown in the August Game Update patch notes.

In September, we’re unleashing our first season. We’re tackling a lot of content and have put in the work to ensure the new additions (including some surprises) aren’t watering down the experience. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we’re anticipating this season to be even bigger than expected.  

Here’s what we’re tracking towards:

• 5 NBA Legends – Each with unique player animations and likeness built from the ground up, these five new players will give you even more options to build a versatile championship squad. These Hall of Famers also know a thing or two about buzzer beaters. We can’t wait to see how they fit into your lineup and game-winning highlights. 

• Drive Camera – Another highly-anticipated ask, this new camera angle gives players the option to see further down the court in a more modern in-game feel. Get that fast break started early and improve your squad’s ball movement from end to end. We’re looking forward to this option to help players find their teammates better.

• Practice Mode – This new non-PvP, non-tournament mode enables players to learn the game at their own pace. Choose your ruleset, select your court and play solo against the AI or go online with friends. Assemble your best builds and practice on each ruleset to strengthen chemistry with your Squad before jumping into competitive RUNs. No rewards, stat tracking, or Career progression are earned in this mode. 

• And That’s Not All: The Championship Belt is coming which allows players to showcase the specific ballers they’ve won Championships with. It’ll evolve throughout the season. There will also be a new Bracket Busting celebration that will be showcased when you’ve beat someone else in their Finals. 

New ruleset ‘All The Fire’ is getting closer to making its debut. And known as the “red carpet of streetball”, Dyckman Park in NYC will be added as our new court w/ daytime and nighttime variants. This is all in addition to new Shop items including new dunks and taunts. 

We’re planning another Discord event this week to go over the new August game update, answer questions and compete with the community once again in another friendly ‘KO Devs’ session. Stay tuned to Discord for an event date/time.

There’s also no better time to recruit new teammates into the game – the PlayStation Summer Sale is still going on until August 12, giving you 34% off the standard edition at $19.79, and 25% off the Deluxe Edition, at $29.99. We also are on sale on XBOX through Sunday, August 17.

As we’ve said before, we’re committed to continuing evolving NBA THE RUN with your feedback, so we’d love to continue hearing from you on the new additions alongside the patch notes. We’re already mapping out plans for our next Season as well as bigger ticket features coming later in our roadmap. 

Thanks for continuing to build the game with us. Once again we appreciate your patience and can’t wait to share more with you soon on the upcoming features. See you on the courts.