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Players complaining about their NBA 2K ratings has been a summer tradition in the league over recent years. Less common is to have players griping about their peers’ ratings, which is what happened earlier this week when Jaren Jackson Jr. was asked about Nikola Jokic‘s 97 OVR in the popular basketball video game.
Jaren Jackson Jr. and Trey Murphy react to Nikola Jokic’s NBA 2K25 rating 🤣
JJJ: “I wish I had 3 MVPs and you give me a 97. I’d low key be mad.”
Murphy: “I don’t think he cares at all.”
(via @OldManAndThree)pic.twitter.com/bXqPa5FHxA
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 26, 2024
It was surprising to us as well to see Jokic’s rating drop a point after an MVP season, so we decided to investigate if there’s a pattern there with NBA 2K undervaluing the Serbian superstar.
Turns out, you can make a case there is.
We went and compared players’ league ranking in terms of NBA 2K rating to their ranking in HoopsHype’s Global Rating metric for the past 15 seasons, identifying the largest disparities.
Among players with at least five years in the league, Nikola Jokic had the largest disparity between his preseason NBA 2K rating and his actual Global Rating for that year. Even more telling: He was underrated relative to his Global Rating eight seasons in a row.
All-Star DeMar DeRozan came second on the list, but a distant one.
You can check the 25 most underrated players in the game per our research below:
Average 2K ranking: 55.78Average Global Rating ranking: 15.44NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 3.61
Seasons overrated: 0Seasons underrated: 8
Average 2K ranking: 61.50Average Global Rating ranking: 29.21NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 2.11
Seasons overrated: 2Seasons underrated: 12
Average 2K ranking: 63.27Average Global Rating ranking: 30.91NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 2.05
Seasons overrated: 4Seasons underrated: 7
Average 2K ranking: 123.00Average Global Rating ranking: 67.50NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.82
Seasons overrated: 1Seasons underrated: 5
Average 2K ranking: 20.33Average Global Rating ranking: 11.17NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.82
Seasons overrated: 0Seasons underrated: 5
Average 2K ranking: 39.86Average Global Rating ranking: 22.29NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.79
Seasons overrated: 3Seasons underrated: 3
Average 2K ranking: 114.00Average Global Rating ranking: 63.86NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.79
Seasons overrated: 1Seasons underrated: 6
Average 2K ranking: 37.67Average Global Rating ranking: 22.00NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.71
Seasons overrated: 1Seasons underrated: 5
Average 2K ranking: 123.25Average Global Rating ranking: 72.38NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.70
Seasons overrated: 2Seasons underrated: 6
Average 2K ranking: 145.50Average Global Rating ranking: 86.50NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.68
Seasons overrated: 1Seasons underrated: 5
Average 2K ranking: 158.00Average Global Rating ranking: 95.60NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.65
Seasons overrated: 0Seasons underrated: 5
Average 2K ranking: 103.25Average Global Rating ranking: 62.63NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.65
Seasons overrated: 1Seasons underrated: 7
Average 2K ranking: 81.00Average Global Rating ranking: 49.17NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.65
Seasons overrated: 2Seasons underrated: 4
Average 2K ranking: 32.43Average Global Rating ranking: 19.71NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.64
Seasons overrated: 2Seasons underrated: 5
Average 2K ranking: 103.71Average Global Rating ranking: 68.43NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.52
Seasons overrated: 1Seasons underrated: 6
Average 2K ranking: 21.93Average Global Rating ranking: 14.50NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.51
Seasons overrated: 4Seasons underrated: 9
Average 2K ranking: 259.14Average Global Rating ranking: 173.00NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.50
Seasons overrated: 0Seasons underrated: 7
Average 2K ranking: 324.22Average Global Rating ranking: 218.56NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.48
Seasons overrated: 0Seasons underrated: 9
Average 2K ranking: 207.70Average Global Rating ranking: 142.20NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.46
Seasons overrated: 3Seasons underrated: 7
Average 2K ranking: 127.43Average Global Rating ranking: 87.86NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.45
Seasons overrated: 3Seasons underrated: 4
Average 2K ranking: 191.33Average Global Rating ranking: 132.17NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.45
Seasons overrated: 2Seasons underrated: 4
Average 2K ranking: 99.17Average Global Rating ranking: 68.58NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.45
Seasons overrated: 4Seasons underrated: 8
Average 2K ranking: 173.09Average Global Rating ranking: 120.45NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.44
Seasons overrated: 3Seasons underrated: 8
Average 2K ranking: 203.80Average Global Rating ranking: 143.40NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.42
Seasons overrated: 1Seasons underrated: 4
Average 2K ranking: 203.50Average Global Rating ranking: 143.40NBA 2K/Global Rating ratio: 1.42
Seasons overrated: 3Seasons underrated: 7
