Russell Westbrook won MVP two years running, yet his rating fell.The highly anticipated basketball simulation game NBA 2K19 is due for release on all consoles on September 11, and many real-life US basketball heroes will appear as avatars in the game. But how has each athlete fared when it comes to their player rating in the video game?
These ratings – the score out of 100 that the game designers give to each player’s avatar – are always controversial. Here are five of the most surprising scores in NBA 2K19.
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Russell Westbrook – rating: 93
Westbrook won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award in 2017, largely because he achieved the seemingly impossible task of averaging a triple double (a double-digit score in at least three statistical categories, such as points, steals or blocked shots)
for an entire season. This earned him a rating of 95 in the last version of the game, NBA 2K17.
So its surprising that, after he completed the feat for a second straight season last year, his score in the upcoming NBA 2K19 has dropped to 93.
Karl Anthony Towns – rating: 91
Twenty-two-year-old Towns is the highest rated centre player in NBA 2K19. While he is no doubt incredibly talented, he had an abysmal first-playoff performance where he underperformed in every category. And while Towns puts up great numbers, his defence has always been cause for concern, which raises the question why he is rated above centres like superstar Joel Embiid.
Draymond Green – rating: 87
One of the most polarising players in the NBA, opinions on Draymond Green’s importance within the champion Golden State Warriors team vary wildly. Some think he is overrated because he plays next to Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry – but many believe he is the glue holding the team together.
No matter what you think of Green as a person, though, a rating of 87 – two points lower than his Warriors’ teammate Klay Thompson and the same rating as three rookies – seems unreasonably low.
Anthony Davis – rating: 94
Davis is wrapping up another successful season, where he cemented himself as one of the dominant players in the league.
Still, while a rating of 94 is very good, he clearly had a better season than the other two players who also received the same score: Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had an excellent season (but not nearly as good as Davis’), and Kawhi Leonard, who missed nearly the entire season due to injury.
It’s clear that Davis, who has got significantly better each season, deserves a score of 95 or higher.
Rudy Gobert – rating: 86
The NBA 2K series of video games has always had a reputation of undervaluing defensive players, and nothing highlights this better than Frenchman Rudy Gobert’s criminally low rating of 86. How does the reigning defensive player of the year receive a lower rating than his own rookie teammate?
Gobert is the reason the Utah Jazz was one of the best defensive teams in the league. That there are more than 30 players rated higher than him is a travesty, as a rating of 89, or even 90, would be more than justified.
Edited by Charlotte Ames-Ettridge