Build A Basketball Dynasty Starting 5 & Card Tiers
Roles first, names second. A 99 in the wrong slot is a bronze card that costs more.
Tier lists for Build A Basketball Dynasty cannot be a scraped 2K community sheet. The card pool is 1,900+ players from 2010–22, Shinies stack on top, and the sim cares about a Starting 5, not a 15-man rotation screenshot. This hub splits the problem into three lists so we do not pretend every 99 belongs in S tier.
How we tier (and what we refuse to fake)
We do not publish fake pack percentages or a 200-name S/A/B table of every star. The studio has not released that sheet. What we can rank honestly:
- Roles in a Starting 5 — creator, secondary scorer, wing stopper, four, five. See Starting 5 tier list.
- Positions — PG through C, including what “empty slot” costs you. See position fits.
- Upgrade layers — base vs Shiny vs Shiny GOAT. See Shiny cards.
Official thumbnails already leak the studio’s own flex: 99 SG / 99 SF cards, a 98 OVR TEAM lineup of five, Bucks 34 and Curry 30 in the same frame. Those are marketing, not a requirement. Use them as shape (two-way star + creator + big) rather than as a shopping list you must duplicate.
S-tier idea: a complete five, not a name
S tier on this wiki is a lineup shape that can win league and survive Gold/Platinum:
- PG who creates
- Wing who shoots without eating 20 isolation plays
- Forward who can bump
- Center who rebounds
- One two-way so ranked opponents cannot park a hunter on your only scorer
A single Shiny GOAT is S tier in its slot. It is not S tier if you start it at the wrong position to show off. How to get a Shiny GOAT is the hunt; this hub is the deploy.
A / B / C — overall bands as a temporary ladder
Until we have a data dump, use overall bands as a budget tier:
| Band | Use |
|---|---|
| 95–99 | Start if the role is right |
| 90–94 | Start or sixth-man if the role is right |
| 85–89 | Fine for Gold league; upgrade the hole |
| 80–84 | Index fodder unless it is your only Center |
| Below 80 | Collection, not ranked |
Move a card up one band if it is Shiny, up another if it is Shiny GOAT, down one if it duplicates a role you already start. That single rule beats a 40-row table of names that will be wrong after UPD2.
Pair this hub with play, not with fanfiction
After you pick a shape:
- Build it in Getting Started terms — fill slots, then upgrade.
- Test in league before you take it to ranked.
- Recalculate Team OVR.
- Do not sell the last copy; the Index still wants the name.
When community box scores agree on a handful of must-start cards, we will name them on the Starting 5 page with a date. Until then, role > jersey.
If a YouTuber’s five looks nothing like yours, they may have lucked into Shinies. Copy their roles. Leave their specific 99s for the pack gods.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Why isn’t there a 100-name player table?
The studio has not published rates or a live spreadsheet. A fake table would mislead. We tier roles, positions, and Shiny layers instead.
Is 99 always S tier?
Only in the correct slot. A 99 PG on a team that already has a creator is a luxury, not a need.
Where do I put a Shiny GOAT?
In the hole it actually fills. Read Shiny cards and Shiny GOAT.
Does this list work after UPD1?
Roles still apply. Check UPD1 if a patch changes ranked weighting.