With NBA 2K17 dropping September 16 for pre-order customers, and on September 20 nationwide, I thought it’d be a fun history lesson in virtual basketball to take a look at the highest rated players in each NBA 2K game dating back to NBA 2K6.
Why NBA 2K6?
First and foremost, finding NBA 2K player ratings dating back to the original NBA 2K is nearly impossible. That game came out on November 10, 1999, as a Dreamcast exclusive. Dreamcast exclusive!
NBA 2K6 is where the NBA 2K franchise really took off. They dropped “ESPN NBA” from the title, launched on a new platform (XBOX 360) and never looked back.
Think of the following list as a history lesson. In doing research for this project, I found it fascinating to think about which NBA stars the NBA 2K franchise deemed some combination of “most marketable” and “we can afford him.” It’s also interesting to see just how frequently the cover athlete wasn’t the highest rated player in that year’s game. For those constantly screaming at the folks behind NBA 2K about favoritism in player ratings, you’d think the “cover athlete rating bump” would be the most egregious offense, but as you’ll soon learn, that just isn’t the case. Shall we begin?
NBA 2K6 – Kobe Bryant (99)
Shaquille O’Neal graced the cover of NBA 2K6, but his arch-nemesis Kobe Bryant gets the nod here. The 2K folks rated Kobe Bryant 99 overall, tying him with Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan for highest overall rating in the game that year. It’s hard to argue against those numbers, as Kobe would go on to average a career-high 35 points per game on a — also a career high! — 27. 2 field goal attempts per game.
Life after Shaquille O’Neal turned Kobe Bryant into a bit of a chucker, but the kind of chucker that resulted in a near-impossible-to-stop NBA 2K player. A good NBA 2K post player could certainly utilize the 99-overall talent from both Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, but for most players, a 99-overall Kobe Bryant from 2006 is nearly impossible to beat.
NBA 2K7 – Dwyane Wade (98)
Quick shoutout to the days when the NBA 2K franchise used to run the same cover athlete on their game in back-to-back years. Shaquille O’Neal landed the cover of NBA 2K7, this time as an NBA Champion with the Miami Heat. Considering Dwyane Wade’s herculean — and an often scrutinized and under-appreciated performance because of the reffing — NBA Finals performance, the folks at 2K gave him the highest rating in NBA 2K7, tying him with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant at 98 overall. Tiebreaker goes to the NBA Finals winner and MVP, Dwyane Wade.
NBA 2K8 – Tim Duncan (98)
NBA 2K8 featured then-New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul as its cover athlete, and yet Paul didn’t even crack the top-five rated point guards that season. NBA 2K8’s highest rated player, Tim Duncan, was coming off the heels of an impressive 4-0 NBA Finals sweep over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. LeBron James actually tied Tim Duncan with a 98 overall rating that year, but in the interest of selecting one player to represent each year of NBA 2K basketball, it’s had to argue against Tim Duncan when the Spurs had just swept the Cavaliers.
NBA 2K9 – Kobe Bryant (98)
Kobe Bryant reclaimed sole ownership of his throne as “highest rated player in NBA 2k” for 2008 — which is what was used to compile data for NBA 2K9 released before that next season. I’m sure Kobe Bryant would have rather won the NBA Finals like NBA 2K9 cover athlete Kevin Garnett did that year, but 98 overall in NBA 2K9 is a good consolation prize, right? RIGHT?
NBA 2K10 – Kobe Bryant (97)
This marks the first time from NBA 2K6 until 2010 that the NBA 2K team had its cover athlete as the highest rated player in the game. Kobe narrowly beat out LeBron James (96) and Dwyane Wade (96) to earn that honor. NBA 2K10 dropped on October 6, 2009, sandwiching itself right in the middle of back-to-back NBA Championships for Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, which means Kobe Bryant was at the top of the basketball world in every sense.
NBA 2K11 – Michael Jordan (99)
The year of 2010 was a banner one for the NBA 2K franchise. They landed a now-retired Michael Jordan as their cover athlete, giving Jordan another accomplishment to his ever-growing list of accolades: the only NBA owner to grace the cover of a video game. NBA 2K11 allowed gamers to play through the most iconic moments of Michael Jordan’s career, which in turn meant that more than one Michael Jordan was needed to complete the process. That’s right, in true G.O.A.T. fashion, Michael Jordan was tied with multiple different versions of Michael Jordan as the games’ highest rated player, an honor only the greatest basketball player of all-time could possibly earn.
NBA 2K11 is widely regarded as one of the best basketball games of all-time, and it really introduced this concept of having old NBA legends available for play in the game. For the sake of our exercise here, we’ll give Jordan his due for NBA 2K11, and exclude any other non-active NBA players from the remainder of this list.
NBA 2K12 – LeBron James (98)
Cashing in on the success of the Michael Jordan cover for NBA 2K11, the 2K people tried something different that year by releasing three separate covers, allowing users to choose which iconic basketball legend they’d like on the cover of their game. The trio of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson got the much-deserved nod.
As far as active players are concerned, NBA 2K12 represents the first instance where the now-three time NBA Champion LeBron James was awarded the distinction of being the game’s highest rated player. As you’ll soon come to realize, he took that trophy, and hasn’t given it back.
NBA 2K13 – LeBron James (98)
The release of NBA 2K13 came at a time when LeBron James cemented himself as the best player in the NBA. Most would argue that LeBron was already the best player in the NBA prior to 2013, but NBA 2K13 dropped the summer after LeBron James had led the Miami Heat to his first NBA Championship. If there were doubters before, you’d think James’ new hardware would put an end to the debate as to who was the NBA’s best player. I can’t say that the general public reacted that way. There was a certainly a camp that questioned the legitimacy of James’ first ring with the Heat because he had to leave Cleveland and form a super team to do it, and that was the lockout-shortened season, too (just 66 regular season games). But the developers at NBA 2K clearly felt differently. Despite the game’s cover going to the trio of Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, and Derrick Rose, LeBron James was awarded with a rating of 98, the highest of any active NBA player in 2K13.
NBA 2K14 – LeBron James (99)
Because sports video games like to confuse the hell out of everyone, they always release with a title based on the year in which that professional sports league will end. This probably isn’t news to anyone, but it’s appropriate to give that context before the following point. In 2013, the year NBA 2K14 dropped, LeBron James did something no other NBA player in history has ever done before. In 2013, LeBron James won everything; regular season MVP, NBA Finals MVP, NBA 2K cover athlete, and the game’s best rating at 99 overall. I cannot argue with that.
NBA 2K15 – LeBron James (98)
In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re knee deep in the prime of LeBron James’ career at this point. Heading into NBA 2K15’s release, James was coming off his fourth straight finals appearance, and despite the fact that the Spurs beat the Heat in the NBA Finals, the masterminds behind 2K really had no choice but to give LeBron James the nod here. The Spurs had a plethora of good talent that year (as they often do), but no individual player could make the case for a higher rating. Interestingly enough, Kevin Durant was the NBA’s regular season MVP, and the NBA 2K15 cover athlete, but the developers behind NBA 2K deemed Kevin Durant worthy of a 95 rating. Amazing, yes, but coming in at a full 3 points behind LeBron James doesn’t make it look like the NBA 2K folks really struggled with this one.
NBA 2K16 – LeBron James (94)
Logic would suggest that NBA 2K16 underwent some sort of algorithm adjustment to determine who the highest rated player in that year’s version of the game would be. LeBron James was not the league MVP, he did not win the NBA Finals, and he did not win the NBA Finals MVP; although, he probably should have even after losing to the Warriors and Finals MVP, Andre Iguodala. What is particularly interesting is that LeBron James’ game-high 94 overall rating marks the lowest rating in NBA 2K history for the highest-rated player.
I can’t tell you how or why NBA 2K’s rating systems changed, but it’s hard to argue against that fact that it did. Some will suggest that Stephen Curry, NBA regular season MVP and NBA Champion, should have received the honor of becoming the game’s highest rated player, but he came in two points shy of LeBron James at 92. NBA 2K16 featured four separate cover athletes, allowing gamers to pick whom they wanted on the cover of their game. Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, James Harden, and Michael Jordan were awarded that honor, but no active NBA player had a higher rating than LeBron James that year.
NBA 2K17 – LeBron James (96)
It’s worth noting that for a period of time in NBA 2K16’s lifecycle, thanks to advances in technology allowing rosters and ratings to get updated throughout the season, Stephen Curry had a stretch after his second-straight MVP win where he was the game’s highest rated player. Not only that, but the developers behind NBA 2K famously gave Stephen Curry a ‘perfect’ rating for 30 hours to honor his accomplishments that season.
Despite Curry’s time in the NBA 2K16 spotlight, NBA 2K17 will feature LeBron James as its highest rated player for an NBA 2K record sixth season in a row, with the caveat being that these ratings are representative of when the game launched, and don’t take roster updates — like the one that made Stephen Curry unstoppable in NBA 2K16 — into account.
When will someone knock LeBron James off the top of his NBA 2K throne? Your guess is as good as mine.
