The modes include Play Now, Season, Dynasty, Playoffs, All-Star Weekend, Freestyle Challenge, 1 on 1, Slam Dunk School and Individual Practice. Seasons and Playoffs are no-frills modes which as states you can partake in an individual NBA season or postseason play. Trades can still take place within the season mode.

All-Star Weekend includes the Rookie Challenge which is a match between the best rookies in the league, the Slam Dunk and Three Point challenges and the All-Star match, which pits the best out of the West and East Conferences against each other. Freestyle Challenge includes Slam Dunk Showdown and Three Point Showdown. 1 on 1 mode has an outdoor setting and people familiar with schoolyard basketball will recognise it by the way it only takes half court and the ball is checked outside the arc once someone scores or a foul is committed. Slam Dunk School is a brief how-to guide which gives the user the practical skills to be competitive in slam dunk competitions.

NBA Live 06 has a Dynasty mode which places the user as a GM of an NBA Franchise team, in a busy NBA season. First things to do are to select an assistant coach, a trainer and a scout. Assistant coach is important since during the season they can work individually with players, say assign a week or up to four weeks and they'll raise their attributes. Trainers are responsible for rehabilitating any injured players and the scout can look up talent in either American colleges or even overseas and give an assessment of the players. The GM is responsible for team so PDA is provided with information from coaching staff and news from the NBA.

There is an off-season which starts in July. First is the Draft Lottery which decides what positions teams picks from in the NBA Draft. Rookie Scouting takes place and the rookies play a one-on-one game against the incumbent member of the roster in that position. NBA Draft next takes place and is only two rounds, so previous scouting by the scout and the rookie scouting will help the team decide who they should pick. Any players whose contracts are running out can be resigned and then any free agents can be signed. Mid August players can be traded and in September it's time to hire any new staff, which consists of the assistant coach, trainer and scout.

Before the new season starts there is a brief showing of Player Evolution and it compares the attributes of some players with their present attributes. There are no preseason games, only a training camp which is basically dividing up between the offence, defence and athleticism. The assistant coach has grades from A+ to D- in each of those so it's best to divide the time for each of the three areas to work on by the strength of the assistant coach in those three areas. This may alter the attributes of the players.

Freestyle superstars' attributes are given to star player. These attributes include, on attack, Power, High Flyers, Scorer, Shooter, Playmaker and, on defence, Stopper. Power is usually for big guys who will power their way to their hoop even with big defence in the paint; high flyers like to slam the basket with a clear lane; scorers like to score points from anywhere; shooters are usually long range target hitters and playmakers pull out fancy passes and are the assist kings. Stoppers can be on the outside - they excel at steals or on the inside where they like to block shots. To activate these plays, press L1 and one of the main four buttons. A button display at the top of the screen comes up to show when it can be advantageous to use. Freestyle replays can be executed by pressing the triangle button once a shot goes in or a block is done using one of the Freestyle Superstar moves.

Before games, such as in Dynasty mode, there are some players which have more than one offensive Freestyle Superstar attribute. Only one can be enabled, so the rest are disabled and it's up to the user to figure out which of the Freestyle Superstar attributes should be enabled for that player to help the team win the game.

Store points are collected by completing various tasks such as scoring 20 points by a single player within in a match, eight three-pointers in a half by the team or a player from the franchise making the All-Star team. These points can be spent in the NBA Store which unlocks shoes to be used when creating a basketball.

Graphics are on par with other EA Sports titles with the star players being easily recognisable. NBA Live 06 has an extensive hip-hop soundtrack in keeping with touch with the urban feel of the modern game of basketball. The commentary is not too bad although some of the sayings, especially by Steve Kerr, can be repetitive as expected.

Dynasty mode is not as deep as other similar modes in other EA sports titles. Setting prices of tickets at home games, getting a hold of sponsors and such aren't in here, which may have made this mode a bit more interesting.

When on defence and you manage to steal the ball, the quick breaks are well done so fast transition plays are greatly represented within the game. The dunks are well represented, too.

NBA Live 06 needs more animations such as intentional fouls. The only animation for that is the defence hugging the player from behind. It would have been great if more things such as shoving the player towards the sidelines and pushing players onto the ground were available. The same goes for some shot animations, rather than using the same lay-up animation for all lays-up with dynamic animations to suit the situation.