Player ratings are among the most highly anticipated and heavily scrutinized reveals leading into the releases of annual sports games. Fans often speak their mind on the ratings of their favorite stars, with athletes themselves like the Minnesota Vikings’Justin Jefferson even protesting his rating. With the release ofNBA 2K22only a few weeks away, the next entry in the annual basketball franchise has been slowly revealing more about its content, with the most recent info being the ratings of the game’s top five rookies.
Over the past few weeks, 2K Sports has been doling out plenty of juicy details about the newest entry in the 22-year-old basketball franchise.NBA 2K22’s cover athlete reveal made waves as WNBA star Candace Parker became the first female athlete to feature as anNBA 2Kstar, and the developer has already announced a slew of changes to the popular MyCareer game mode. Now, as the release date approaches,NBA 2Krevealed the five highest ratings of the NBA’s incoming rookies.
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Notably topping the list is point guard Cade Cunningham, the first overall pick of the Detroit Pistons from the 2021 NBA Draft, with an overall rating of 80. Cunningham put up solid numbers in his freshman season with Oklahoma State, finishing just outside the top 20 in the NCAA in points-per-game. Cunningham will follow last year’s top-rated rookie, theNew Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson, who saw his rating jump early in the season from 81 to an 86.
Expectedly trailing just behind Cunningham was the 2021 NBA Draft’s 2nd overall pick, incoming Houston Rocket Jalen Green, rated by 2K at 79. The list following Cunningham and Green almost mirrors the order of the top 5 picks from this year’s NBA Draft, with only 4th-rated Jalen Suggs and 5th-rated Scottie Barnes swapping from their draft order. Young players often see their numbers spike likeJa Morant inNBA 2K21, so any one of these players could be sitting higher amongst the other rookies as the season gets underway.
TheNBA 2Kplayer ratings are often the most controversial and contentious part of the lead-in to each game’s release. While ratings are updated often throughout the season, 2K Sports often sees backlash from fans, players and eventeams like the Washington Wizardswho are unhappy with their evaluations of some of basketball’s biggest stars. There is no doubt 2K will continue tinkering with the ratings as the season begins and, though those changes will come with their own slew of complaints. Still, at least fans have an idea of where these rookies will be starting.
NBA 2K22is scheduled to release on September 10th for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
