We are less than a month away from teams reporting to training camps around the NBA, and the official first sign that the new season is almost upon us is the annual release of the latest installment of the NBA 2K franchise, NBA 2K24.
While fans of the game will be concerned mostly with the gameplay changes and updated game modes, general NBA fans are always interested in seeing how the ratings folks at 2K grade out all of the players and teams in the league. Player ratings always spark debate, particularly among how they rank top stars and regarding players whose impact often isn’t fully felt in the box score — or, vice versa, those who put up big stats but might not always contribute to winning basketball. As far as team ratings, 2K has moved away from dramatic differences between top and bottom teams, as the lowest rated team in this year’s edition is an 86 OVR and they don’t even show team ratings in the game setup screen (you can find them in MySeason mode when picking through teams to start a franchise with).
In Toronto, despite another summer full of trade rumors, most of their core group is back once again. Fred VanVleet’s departure left them scrambling to fill their point guard position, ending up with Dennis Schroder, but otherwise this is mostly the same roster that scuffled to the East’s 9-seed a year ago. The Raptors are the rare team in 2K to earn a higher defensive rating than offensive rating, which is both accurate and will probably not make them a particularly popular 2K team — playing good defense is not nearly as fun in a video game as being able to get buckets.
Toronto Raptors: 91 OVR, 89 OFF, 92 DEF
Pascal Siakam: 86
Scottie Barnes: 83
OG Anunoby: 82
Jakob Poeltl: 81
Gary Trent Jr.: 79
Dennis Schroder: 77
Chris Boucher: 77
Precious Achiuwa: 76
Jalen McDaniels: 76
Thaddeus Young: 75
Christian Koloko: 74
Otto Porter: 74
Gradey Dick: 72
Malachi Flynn: 72
Garrett Temple: 70
Jeff Dowtin: 69
Ron Harper Jr.: 68
