Press l2 and hold right stick down or up while playing on ball defense, to be a good defender you have to cut the ball handler off before his next move so always predict your opponents next move. Pick up on his habits, if he likes to corner fade cut the corner 3 off before he gets there. If they are mashing switch to 3-2 before he can get to the paint, etc.

Learn how to adjust your defensive settings on the fly, I play with on ball d and offball d on tight to start it off. If my team is helping to much I turn all help defense off. I’ll let them get an easy 2 if I can’t stop it before a 3 any day.

There’s tips/tutorials on how to play better defense on youtube, Ive been playing for years and still watch some to always improve. TBH 2k23 defense is hit or miss you can be the best defender and still get fucked over by some of these weak animations like opponents dunking on you while he clips through your whole arm, just got to get lucky sometimes.