It’s getting close to the time for the annual release of the latest edition of the extremely popular NBA 2K video game, NBA 2K22. Everyone, including the players themselves, pays attention to the player ratings, and one of the players at the top is Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James.
James is tied for the highest rating in the game at 96, along with Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. But LeBron believes a couple of those players should be ranked even higher.
As SLAM Gaming officially announced the 96 rating for Durant on Twitter, LeBron responded to it with his belief that Durant should have a perfect 99 rating:
Nah! Should be 99! ????????♂️
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 18, 2021
But James wasn’t done as he said the exact same thing about Durant’s former teammate and one of LeBron’s biggest rivals in Curry:
Nah should be 99! ????????♂️
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 18, 2021
It is hard to argue with LeBron’s point that Durant and Curry should have a perfect rating in NBA 2K22 after their performances this season. In the playoffs, Durant was unbelievable and nearly led his Nets over the eventual champion Bucks despite injuries to both of his co-stars Kyrie Irving and James Harden. Curry, meanwhile, nearly won regular season MVP after harkening back to his undisputed MVP days and almost singlehandedly bringing the Warriors into the playoffs.
Many will ask in response to these words from James whether this is him admitting that he believes Curry, and especially Durant, are better than him and should be rated higher. There was no James response like this to his own rating, so some will surely take this as exactly that.
Whether or not this is the case, James has always been about giving credit where credit is due, even to his biggest rivals. Regardless of what he thinks individually, LeBron knows the Lakers team could very well have to go through both Curry and Durant to win the NBA Championship, and there is zero doubt that James believes his team is absolutely capable of doing that.
Anthony Davis not in top-10 highest-rated NBA 2K22 players
While James is tied for the highest rating in the video game, his co-star Anthony Davis didn’t crack the top-10 as the list was revealed. Along with James, Curry, Durant, and Antetokounmpo it is Kawhi Leonard, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Luka Doncic, James Harden, and Damian Lillard rounding out the top-10.
Davis is surely still rated in the 90s as Doncic, Harden, and Lillard are rated a 94, so Davis likely isn’t too far behind that. But coming off a disappointing injury-plagued season and now seeing himself not in the top-10 here, Davis doesn’t lack for motivation to put forth a dominant season in 2022.