With NBA 2K20 out for a little over a month now and as we prepare to enter a new season of basketball, there's just no better time to take the scalpel out and fully examine this years ratings. No matter which way you look at it, someones always going to be angry -- but sometimes it's justified as we all look at 2K in disbelief and other times it's just yelling for the sake of yelling.
Still, I always found it funny that there's a game that essentially grades players by handing them out specific scores to demoralize the bench warmers and pump-up the stars. So without further adieu let's check out the worst ratings that 2K handed out this year.
10 Lebron James (97 Overall)
Leave it to 2K to bow down to the king, even when he just came off the worst season in his career. Lebron James is once again the best player in the game, and seeing as he was apart of a team that missed the playoffs by a mile, this makes no sense at all. This easily should've been Kawhi Leonard's year to dethrone James. Not only did that silent assassin manage to lead a country to their first championship, but he did it by knocking off the former champs -- easily I might add. Seeing 2K step over Leonard and kiss up to James is truly disappointing.
9 Steph Curry (95 Overall)
Now when it comes to anti-Warriors fans you can go ahead and crown me king. I couldn't stand them when they beat the Bulls record, not once when they beat LeBron three times in the finals and definitely not when Steph Curry and his partner in crime Klay Thompson hit impossible threes on every team in the league. That said, you have to respect greatness, and Steph is as great as they come. Knocking him out of the top five with a 95 overall is disrespectful, but placing him under James Harden is a straight up sin.
8 Joel Embiid (91 Overall)
So it's been seen over the years that Joel Embiid is more of an NBA Live guy, and I guess the 2K staff weren't too thrilled about it. Maybe were being a bit nit picky with this one, but jeez, these are the best ballers on the planet Earth -- did you get the memo 2K?
Embiid showed last season that he is nearly impossible to defend unless you bring your absolute A game. And you're going to tell us he's a bottom 90's kind of player? No, all the no's that money can buy. Worst part is Embiid is on a long list of centers who were disrespected.
7 Luka Doncic (87 Overall)
The Luka Doncic hype train has been a wild ride -- this guy is the real deal, no doubt. But a bit overrated? Also, no doubt. The Mavericks were a train wreck last season, with their only accomplishment being the send off of Mav's legend Dirk Nowitzki. Besides that, total train wreck. Doncic easily stole the show leading the team in points, but he is far from proving himself as a player that can take his team to the next level. An 87 overall just seems a bit too high for a guy who clearly still has a long way to go to develop into the star player we know he can be.
6 Jrue Holiday (86 Overall)
Now here's an example of a guy that got undervalued so badly that we couldn't even find a proper screenshot from 2K. Sure he may be one point off from Doncic in terms of his overall, but there's just no way that Jrue Holiday isn't equivalent to, if not better. Sure the Pelicans ended up with just as trash of a record as the Mavericks, but Holiday managed to stand out as a star for most of the season. Holiday beat his career average in points, assists and proved that he's an elite defender. The disrespect to this guy's overall is just uncalled for.
5 Donovan Mitchell (88 Overall)
And back to our regularly scheduled program of overhyped players that were ranked way higher than they should've been. Don't get me wrong, Donovan Mitchell is a talented baller and the best player on the Utah Jazz -- a team that had a bit of a comeback this season. But Mitchell's overall places him as the 17th best overall player in this game -- meaning that 2K is pretty much saying he's the 17th best on the planet. No sir or madam, that is certainly not the case. Mitchell is above Jimmy Butler, Ben Simmons and Bradley Beal, all players who I could make a very strong case for being better than Utah's poster boy.
4 Kyrie Irving (Overall 91)
Being a Celtics fan I'll try to keep as much bias out of this as possible when discussing Kyrie Irving. Then again, no, I hate this guy, and not because he completely destroyed our team chemistry allowing a championship caliber team to regress. Well, actually, yeah I guess that's part of the reason I think Irving is overrated in 2K20, but aside from that he's been exposed as a player who just isn't good unless he's playing with a star that's better than him. Until Irving can prove he can lead a team to a championship, or even a conference title on his own he should be out of the top 15 (And definitely below Jokic).
3 Paul George (93 Overall)
Paul George had one of the most dominant seasons of his entire career -- averaging 28 points a game and holding a field goal percentage in the 40's was no small feat. I think NFL fans will agree with me however, when I compare George to someone like Phillip Rivers. Both are tanks when it comes to season play (with the exception of Rivers this season) but when it comes to the playoffs it's consistently choke city. George didn't show up, albeit an injury might've held him back, but he's come up short so many times in the playoffs that I think he should've fallen further in this years 2K.
2 Bradley Beal (87 Overall)
Bradley Beal is an absolute monster -- while I don't watch Wizards ball often, when I did, Beal was always stealing the show. Averaging 25 points per game, Beal became the reason that the Wizards had any wins at all in their poor 2019 season outing. And boy was this guy disrespected in this year's 2K being placed under players like Rudy Gorbert and Kemba Walker, players he's obviously better than. The thing with Beal compared to other players I've ranted about on this list is if this guy was placed on another roster I'd have no doubt that he'd still be a monster.
1 Giannis Antetokounmpo
Speaking of "monsters," if you look up the very definition you'll find Giannis Antetokounmpo. But even being one of the biggest proponents for centers in NBA 2K20, Antetokounmpo's 96 overall is just a bit too crazy -- despite him winning this year's MVP. It's only because I see it like this, a 99 overall should mean you're essentially a perfect player -- and a perfect player needs a shot. *Cough* Not Antetokounmpo in the slightest *Cough*. He might be perfect in so many different aspects of the game, but a 96 overall has to mean he has great shot, and he's not even close to that standard as of now.