NBA 2K: The most underrated players in the video game's history

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: