No NBA team has relocated since 2008, when the Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder. Relocation has happened only four times since 1985, and it doesn't appear any team will leave their current city in the forseeable future.
But the upcoming release of NBA 2K16 will be making the ability to move teams a major feature.
MORE: Biggest free agency movers in 2K16 | Colleges added to 2K16
NBA 2K16 includes Team Relocation in MyGM and MyLeague modes, both of which are forms of franchise modes where the user manages and controls the entire team over the course of multiple seasons. Seattle and Vancouver, the cities that were most recently vacated and have not received another team in the years since, are two of the many options available.
Beyond just placing a team in a new city however are some major features related to customization, as the team's name can be changed and logos, uniforms, and arenas can be designed. That can even be done without relocating a team. There's an extraordinary number of options available, and league realignment will even take place to ensure the conferences and divisions make the most sense.
Here's what else is featured in the game, via a 2K Sports news release:
NBA 2K16 arena design options
- Start off by selecting one of 13 different arena sizes (each with varying capacity levels). Once that is done, you’ll need to give it a name.
- Full colorization of the seating in the arena.
- Selection of what type of basket stanchions you want to use, plus the ability to colorize these to any color you want.
- Selection from a number of differently sized Scorer’s Tables, each with a different amount of advertising boards.
- Full control over what advertisements play on the Scorer’s Table (note: YES, of course you can head over to the 2K website and upload anything you want to display on the advertising boards of your chosen Scorer’s Table).
- Choose from 24 different Jumbotron styles for your custom arena. Once you have chosen your Jumbotron, you can choose from a number of different animation packages that will play on your Jumbotron (yes, your uploaded customs logos will play here!) as well as the LED marquees that span the circumference of the arena.
- Select custom sound effects that play in your arena during key events in the game (e.g. after a made 3PT shot by the home team, when the away team commits a turnover or misses a free throw, when the home team makes a FT, and so on). This was a late touch added that really puts the icing on the cake. No custom sound uses here (only what we provided on-disc). I’ll see what we can do for 2K17 on this front!
- Choose from a selection of different wood patterns for your court floor.
- Choose how you want to color the wood. You can break this down by zones on the court (in the key (the key is even broken down into sub-zones), inside the 3PT line, between the 3PT lines, etc.). Whatever you want.
- Full control over every single line on the court. Including the out of bounds lines, the half-court line, jump ball circle, hash marks in the key, media box where the camera guys go, EVERYTHING.
- Choose a center court logo for your custom floor. Once again, you can choose from our on-disc selection or upload your own over on our website.
- Choose secondary court logos (these appear next to the key near the baseline) by selecting one of ours or uploading your own.
- Choose arena name logos (think STAPLES CENTER, ORACLE ARENA, etc.) by selecting one of ours or uploading your own.
- Choose from a large selection of fonts and write whatever you want on the two baselines (e.g., put ‘SAN ANTONIO’ on one baseline and ‘SPURS’ on the other) as well as the sideline text in front of the team benches. This text is fully colorizable to match the theme of our floor.
NBA 2K16 uniform design options
- Full colorization of the base uniform itself.
- A selection of collar types on the jersey (U-neck, V-neck, etc.)
- A selection of different design patterns for both the jersey and the shorts.
- A selection of stripe patterns for the Neck, Shoulder, Jersey Side, Shorts Side+Bottom, and Shorts Waist regions of the uniform. Full colorization within these patterns are fully supported.
- Full control over player names and numbers anywhere on the uniform. This includes sizing, placement, selection of font, and colorization of all aspects. You can even apply a curvature to the text if you really want to get fancy.
- Full support for uploading your own team logos and images for use on the uniforms. You can skew, resize, and rotate images to your heart’s content.
- Full layering support. This allows you to intricately stylize your uniforms by prioritizing which layers take precedence over others. An example of this is in action is the Warriors uniform where they cleverly place the jersey number within the logo on the front of the uniform. With the robust uniform creator, you will have the same tools at your disposal to create whatever you can imagine.
NBA 2K16 is set to release on September 29, but those who pre-order the game will get it four days earlier.2K16's MyCareer Mode is written and directed by Spike Lee, and the three covers for the game feature Stephen Curry, James Harden, and Anthony Davis . An $80 special edition with Michael Jordan on the cover and bonus content has also been announced. Considerable feature news has been leaked about the game, including what appears to be the return of college basketball in some form with some licensed universities involved .
Bryan Wiedey posts sports gaming news and analysis daily at Pastapadre.com, has co-founded the new site HitThePass.com, is a regular participant in the Press Row Podcast, and can be reached on Twitter @Pastapadre.