For fans of the style and arcade gameplay of the NBA Street series, developer Play by Play Studios may have a worthy successor in NBA The Run. The game is coming out on June 9 and its development just so happened to be overseen by Mike Young, an artist on the original NBA The Street series, according to a Game Informer report from October 2025.
Rather than leaning hard on the simulation aspects of a game like NBA 2K26, NBA The Run focuses on smaller, 3v3 basketball matches, and slightly more over-the-top action. Players will work their way through a four-round “Knockout Tournament” set on basketball courts around the world, before facing off in a boss battle of sorts in one of “four specially designated final courts.” The game offers three main modes, Knockout Squads (where you play one player in a team of three), Knockout Solos (where you play as a whole team) or Knockout Friends (where you can create custom private tournaments). You can play as either fictional characters or pick from a roster of over 30 real NBA players, like Steph Curry, Luka Dončić, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid.
NBA The Run got its start in 2024 as The Run: Got Next, and was later retooled once Play by Play Studios received the official NBA license to play with, Game Informer writes. Sports games are as popular as they’ve ever been, but this new game will be launching in a world that’s largely been under served with new arcade sports tiles, particularly those officially sanctioned by the National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Players Association. Assuming everything goes as planned, The Run could be the start of a renaissance.
NBA The Run will be available for $30 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Steam on June 9. A Deluxe Edition of the game with three additional unlockable players and some in-game currency will cost $40.
