With NBA2K22 coming out in early September, 2K has started releasing information about their new game. In the last few days, they’ve released overall ratings for some players.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with 2K ratings, I’ll briefly explain them. Every player in the NBA has an overall rating between 60-99 (The lowest player in 2K21 was a 65, the highest was a 98). The higher overall rating, the better the player is.
2K releasing ratings always causes controversy with the community and the players themselves. Bradley Beal’s wife and Ronnie 2K (the main marketing guy for NBA2K. He’s the guy every 2K player blames for problems with the game even though he’s not a developer) got in a little Twitter beef over Beal’s rating. Kevin Porter Jr. was upset because his rating was lower than some rookies.
My favorite game mode on 2K is MyNBA. You know about how the mode works if you’ve read my “I become the GM of” articles. When playing MyNBA, it’s important to me that player ratings are as accurate as possible. Since I don’t trust 2K to do it on their own, I do it myself. I use stats and the eye test to give my ratings.
So, with all the controversy over the 2K22 ratings, I’m going to give you my ratings and compare them to 2K’s. To start off, here are 2K’s top 10 players for NBA2K22 and their ratings.
T1- Kevin Durant 96 OVR
T1- Giannis Antetokounmpo 96 OVR
T1- Stephen Curry 96 OVR
T1- LeBron James 96 OVR
T5- Kawhi Leonard 95 OVR
T5- Nikola Jokic 95 OVR
T5- Joel Embiid 95 OVR
T8- Luka Doncic 94 OVR
T8- James Harden 94 OVR
T8- Damian Lillard 94 OVR
Ignoring the overalls, this list isn’t too bad. There’s a few things I think are wrong. I think that 2K has a habit of lowballing players on their ratings, even when the players are top 10 level.
During the regular season, 2K updates ratings every two weeks. They stop updating during the playoffs (which is stupid). Then, for the beginning of the season, they lower players ratings from what they were at the end of the regular season. For example, Steph was a 98 overall in 2K21. He’s a 96 for 2K22 even though he didn’t do anything that justifies a lower rating.
Here are my top 10 players for 2K22
T1- Kevin Durant 98 OVR
T1- Giannis Antetokounmpo 98 OVR
T1- Stephen Curry 98 OVR
T1- LeBron James 98 OVR
T5- Kawhi Leonard 97 OVR
T5- James Harden 97 OVR
T7- Luka Doncic 96 OVR
T7- Anthony Davis 96 OVR
T7- Damian Lillard 96 OVR
10- Nikola Jokic 95 OVR
As you can see, my ratings are higher than 2K’s. That’s because I think 2K lowballs the players. Nobody is ever a 99 overall, which is fair. But what stops KD, Giannis, Steph, and LeBron from being as close as possible? They have the impact of a 99 overall. I think they deserve to be 98s.
Here are some other ratings 2K has released, and my ratings for those players.
Jayson Tatum
2K: 90 Me: 92
Jayson is an all-around star who will be a superstar very soon. He was insanely good in the playoffs. Just a 90 overall is too low for a guy who is just outside the top 10 for me.
Bradley Beal
2K: 89 Me: 90
Not a big difference in rating, but Beal finished 2K21 in the 90 overall club. There’s no reason that he shouldn’t be a 90 again. (Since Beal is a 90, I think Tatum is 2 overalls better.)
Domantas Sabonis
2K: 86 Me: 88
Sabonis is one of the most unique players in the NBA in terms of playstyle. He operates in the high post, where he makes passes, sets screens, or scores the ball. Here’s some highlights so you can see what I’m talking about. Sabonis has established himself as an All-Star guy, and I think he’s earned an 88 overall.
Ben Simmons
2K: 84 Me: 87
I understand that Simmons doesn’t score. He does everything else though. I think he still has the impact of an 87 overall player. I have Tobias Harris as an 86 overall, and Ben Simmons is better than him, therefore earning him an 87. People need to calm down on the Ben disrespect. He’s still an All-Star level player.
Russell Westbrook
2K: 85 Me: 88
This is honestly disrespectful. Russ isn’t a superstar, but he’s still a top 10 point guard. Coming off a historic season, I think he deserves an 88 overall.
Evan Fournier
2K: 79 Me: 82
I’m not sure how 2K doesn’t have Fournier in the 80 overall club. He’s a legit scorer, and he does it efficiently. I think he deserves to be in the low 80s.
Kevin Porter Jr.
2K: 77 Me: 79
As I mentioned earlier, KPJ was upset about his rating. Ronnie’s response was this, which got people saying that KPJ was overrated because he had one 50 point game. I disagree. He had other good games this season (such as 20 point 10 assist games), and he would have been in my top 100 if he played more than 26 games. I don’t have him as an 80 quite yet, but I probably will during the season.
Here are more ratings from me:
Paul George- 93
Chris Paul- 92
Jimmy Butler- 91
Khris Middleton- 90
DeMar Derozan- 87
Boban Marjanovic- 76
So, those are my thoughts on 2K’s ratings, and my ratings for some players. Whose ratings do you like better? Let me know! Top 100 is coming soon. See you next time!
(I know not everybody cares about 2K. I just put this out as something for y’all to read while waiting for the top 100.)
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