Dropping Dimes

What Dropping Dimes does

Dropping Dimes is built around the pass. It is carried by the game’s elite distributors — LaMelo Ball, Luka Doncic, Josh Giddey, Trae Young, Tyrese Haliburton, street maestro Shen Tong, and — new in the July 21 drop — rookie Cameron Boozer. When the carrier activates the Zone, their own Passes rating and Speed rise, and any teammate who catches their pass and scores does so with a boost to their Shots rating. In practice an open catch-and-shoot three or a feed to a cutter converts at a meaningfully higher rate while the ability is live.

It is both a self-buff and a team buff — the carrier gets quicker and passes better, and the Shots boost lands on whoever finishes the play. That makes the carrier a force multiplier who also gets downhill faster on the catch-and-go.

How to get the most out of it

The ability rewards patience and ball movement. When the Zone activates, don’t force your own shot — whip the ball to your best shooter or a teammate cutting to the rim. Buckets created off the pass are what trigger the boost, so a quick extra pass before the shot is often worth more points than taking the first available look. It pairs especially well with a Deep Threat shooter on the wing or a rim-runner who can finish lobs: feed them while Dropping Dimes is up and you stack two advantages on the same possession.

The In the Zone meter

Dropping Dimes comes online through the carrier’s own In the Zone meter — each player charges theirs with their own play: tricks, dunks, dimes and buckets, with bigger highlight plays filling it faster (the Aura rating is that player’s personal charge rate). When the meter is full, activate the Zone with L3+R3 for roughly 30 seconds of boosted speed, power and stamina plus the signature ability. Position the carrier before you pop it — activating while they’re out of position or gassed wastes part of the window.

Both the effect text and the carrier list here are verified verbatim from the in-game player-select cards — including the July 21 rookie, whose card was captured and read day-one.