Nuggets big man Jokic has been scoring like a 6-foot-11-inches center has no right to be doing ever since he signed that contract extension in 2018. When you see Wilt Chamberlain’s records tumbling in the wake of your on-court performances, you know you’re doing pretty okay. 

After ballooning in weight to avoid being pushed around and then stripping it all off again for the last season, the Joker earned himself the regular season MVP award. And he’s still down on last year. What’s a Serbian giant to do? 

This one’s probably down to injury troubles, but rest assured Nuggets MyGM players, he’s still a total beast. 

If there’s ever a case for nominative determinism, top-3 NBA draft pick brothers Lonzo and LaMelo Ball make it. Imagine if they’d focused on ice hockey instead. 

LaMelo made good on his top pick status for the Hornets by breaking Markelle Fultz’s record and becoming the youngest player in league history to record a triple-double. A few weeks later, the 19-year-old became the youngest player to record a 30-point game, too. 

There’s a lot of – let’s say, excitement – in Buzz City for Ball’s future, and that’s reflected in what some would consider a modest 1-point OVR upgrade from last year. 

Pioneering point-forward LeBron is 36 years old now. If anything, that’s still surprisingly young — he’s been the dominant force in the league since Mean Girls hit the cinemas. Still, time makes a fool of us all, and even a championship ring magnet with deltoids the size of Muggsy Bogues has an expiry date. 

He’s certainly not hit it yet, but with a one-point decrease from last year, 2K’s saying Mr. James is no longer far and away the best talent in the league. Three other players share a 96 OVR rating, in fact…

…And Kawhi’s one of them. This means, finally, the league’s most underrated player for the last decade is probably rated correctly now. His media-shy tendency and focus on on-court fundamentals which typifies the Popovich-era Spurs kept him away from the limelight early in his career, but since winning a ring at Toronto then making an extremely high-profile move to the Clippers in the following offseason, Leonard’s become one of the elite SFs — and the most famous cornrow apologist — in the league. Have an extra point on your OVR, Kawhi. 

Maybe the league’s most controversial player, but definitely one of the most effective. Harden’s euro step and lithe, on-the-fly adjustments when he takes flight demonstrate his rare talent, but the 20 points he gets at the line every night are what wins games. 

Injuries have slowed down an otherwise unplayable Nets PG/SG, and his rating this year tells that story. Still one of the league’s absolute elite, but as his age increases and the injuries accumulate, defenders have at least a half-chance of keeping him from either the bucket or the stripe in 2K22.

Winning a championship changes things. Nothing solidifies a player’s potential like slipping a ring on his finger, and so it proves with Bucks veteran Khris Middleton. He’s been averaging somewhere near 20 PPG since Giannis was still a draft prospect, but it’s fair to say the limelight has evaded him.

Well, step up and take a bow, Mr. Middleton, with that shiny new 88 OVR rating of yours. Three points is a serious adjustment by NBA 2K standards, and if anyone has any arguments against this one we’d love to hear it. 

What a strange few years it’s been for Warriors fans. From appearing like an imperious winning dynasty in 2018-19 to finishing rock bottom in the west with just 15 wins in 2019-20… and then finding themselves somewhere in the middle of the conference again this season, you could hardly blame for pulling Steph Curry and Co.’s ratings out of a hat for this game.

Like the newly lowered Harden, injuries have had their say in Curry’s effectiveness on the court and result in a new 96 OVR in the game. He’s still the best three-point shooter in the league, and he can still break your ankles with an eyebrow raise. He’s just not tangibly better than KD or Giannis anymore, by whatever abstract metric the OVR constitutes. 

Hands up who had the Hawks making a deep payoff run this last offseason? Mmhmm, yep… I see we have a few liars reading this article. 

It’s true that Atlanta’s been building a young and exciting roster for a few years now, but until the last season they’d remained perennial Western Conference basement dwellers since… well, since they moved over from being Eastern Conference basement dwellers.

Trae Young’s extraordinary postseason efforts were a huge part of that success, so he rightfully finds himself among the ranks of the truly elite in this year’s game.

We can’t figure this one out. What did Domantas do wrong? Sure, he missed the rest of the 2019-20 season after the March shutdown due to injury and surgery, but he was right back at top level last season. He even found himself in the All-Star Game, albeit as an injury replacement for KD. Perhaps it was the Pacers’ slightly anonymous season record, or maybe the other elites just got that bit more elite around him. You’re still an 87 in our hearts, Domantas.

It’s probably not a total coincidence that the Warriors’ dramatic change in fortunes mentioned above happened the exact moment Kevin Durant and that 7-foot-5-inch wingspan of his packed up for the Nets. Since then he’s only maintained that impossibly high level of competitiveness, professionalism and a soft touch that no one with a 7-foot-5-inch wingspan should be able to possess.

And yet here is KD, about to start his 14th NBA season (the man used to play for the Sonics, for crying out loud), rated equally with LeBron, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kawhi Leonard.

That’s something, isn’t it? He’s probably not too upset about maintaining that 96 OVR.

Written by Phil Iwaniuk on behalf of GLHF.