Welcome to the Community,
... I can create new VMKs and Port Groups, ...
I think it's necessary to explain the difference between these two port group types.
A VMkernel port group (which requires IP settings) is used for host based traffic only (e.g. Management Network, vMotion, iSCSI, ...), and is NOT related to VM network traffic.
VMs can only be connected to Virtual Machine Port Groups. These port groups do not have any IP settings themselves, but simply only provide virtual network ports to the vSwitch, The IP configuration for VMs is done within the guest operating systems.
It's basically the same as in a physical network. The port into which you plug in your system doesn't need to have an IP address, it's the system itself (Windows, Linux, ...) which needs to be configured.
André