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).
The Portland Trail Blazers roster as it stands right now is not likely to be the roster for long, as Damian Lillard’s trade request hangs over everything in Portland. Even understanding that, there might not be a bigger difference in a team’s 2K rating and the on-court results of the last couple years than Portland, where their 94 overall is better than a lot of playoff teams — including the defending champion Denver Nuggets. Their roster seemingly breaks the game, as it can’t figure out how they aren’t better than they are, but it is pretty wild seeing their overall rating be that high, even factoring in how great Dame was a year ago.
Portland Trail Blazers: 94 OVR, 98 OFF, 90 DEF
Damian Lillard: 94
Anfernee Simons: 83
Jerami Grant: 81
Jusuf Nurkic: 81
Scoot Henderson: 78
Shaedon Sharpe: 78
Matisse Thybulle: 76
Nassir Little: 75
Kris Murray: 72
Moses Brown: 72
Jabari Walker: 71
Keon Johnson: 70
Kevin Knox: 70
Rayan Rupert: 69
Ibou Badji: 67
John Butler: 67