With a few days left until the official release of the basketball video game NBA 2K25, 2K Studios teased its fans by releasing the official overalls of each player for the new game.
NBA 2K is a basketball video game franchise that releases a new game each year in line with the start of the NBA season.
The franchise gets its name from the first game being made in November of 1999 leading to “Y2K.”
For context, a player’s overall rating is when the developers combine each player's attributes on a scale from 25-99 based on the real life performance of each player.
All of those attributes then get added up into one single number making the player’s overall rating for the game.
This game is the 25th in its franchise and in recent years, the developers have revealed the overall rating of each player before the release of the game.
While this is a controversial topic every year with these releases because of the opinionated nature of sports including basketball, it is something that many fans of the game look forward to.
I’m sure anyone who watched the NBA last season can find some disagreements with the top ten players.
Yes, these players may be the current top 10 players in the league but the ranking is a little messed up.
The no. 10 spot 2K has Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant, preceded by Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum.
I am going to just come out and say that Durant should not be tenth.
According to a Basketball Reference webpage he almost had another 50-40-90 season at the age of 35 which is when a player shoots 50% or higher from the field, 40% or higher from the 3 point line and 90% or more from the free throw line.
If I could make this ranking, I would rate Jayson Tatum at tenth.
I genuinely believe that Tatum is getting a boost from being the cover athlete for this game and winning the championship.
Statistically speaking, he had a worse season than Durant shooting 47% from the field, 38% from 3 and making 83% of his free throws.
Tatum is 26 years old and still in his prime yet he is being outperformed by Durant.
All I am saying is, there is a reason why Durant got more minutes than Tatum during the Olympics basketball games.
I would put Durant over Davis too just because of the versatility Durant has as a player.
Durant is more durable, he is a more efficient scorer and he is a better spacer.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry comes in at the seventh spot with Lakers superstar forward, LeBron James, being in the sixth position.
James and Curry are fine where they are at in my opinion.
Many fans know of the rivalry these two had in the late 2010s going against each other in four championships in a row.
In the top five positions, we have Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the fourth spot.
In the 39 games that Embiid played last season, he averaged a double-double with 35 points and 11 rebounds while almost averaging a 50-40-90 according to Basketball-Reference.com.
That is not easy for a big man to do, so he deserves to be in the top five.
Gilgeous-Alexander is also where he needs to be on this list because he averaged 30 points on 54% shooting, according to the same Basketball Reference webpage.
He also finished second in MVP voting and made the All-NBA first team, which is a team of five players that are essentially the best in each position of basketball.
In front of him is the forward on the Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo, ranking third.
Like Gilgeous-Alexander, Antetokounmpo also made the All-NBA first team and averaged 30 points per game last season according to Basketball-Reference.com
Luka Dončić, the Dallas Mavericks guard, holds the number two spot and the best player in the league, according to 2K is Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić.
Dončić averaged 34 points last season and while he was not the most efficient shooter on this list, he led his team to the NBA Finals against Tatum and the Celtics.
Jokić won the MVP award last season which was a shocker to no one while almost averaging a triple double per game shooting nearly 60% from the field.
What makes the case stronger for these five guys being considered the best players in the league is that ⅘ of them finished top five in MVP voting.
The game is scheduled to come out Friday, so hopefully it does not disappoint in any other areas.
