5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

PHOENIX SUNS (3-8 since last update)
The bottom fell out in Phoenix, forcing a lineup change. Bradley Beal moved to the bench in favor of defensive-minded Ryan Dunn, while Jusuf Nurkic played his way out of the rotation entirely.

78 (+1) Mason Plumlee
11 GP, 6 GS: 3.6 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 2.5 APG, 18 MPG (67 FG%, 80 FT%)
Emerged as the starting center, though that appears to be more of an indictment on Nurkic.

78 (-1) Jusuf Nurkic
7 GP, 5 GS: 7.1 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 3.4 APG, 21 MPG (49 FG%, 50 3PT%, 79 FT%)
The counting stats aren't bad, they're just dropping his OVR bc of the role change. His faltering defense (hasn't been the same since his 2019 leg break) is the reason he's no longer in the rotation, and I have zero doubt that wasn't touched by 2K.

77 (-1) Royce O'Neale
6 GP, 2 GS: 7.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, 27 MPG (39 FG%, 37 3PT%)
Royce missed the last 2 weeks w/ injury.

76 (+1) Ryan Dunn
12 GP, 8 GS: 7.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG, 24 MPG (47 FG%, 27 3PT%)
Became the starting SF - really just this season's Josh Okogie.

76 (-1) Josh Okogie
9 GP: 5.3 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 16 MPG (45 FG%, 33 3PT%)
Okogie has mostly fallen out of the rotation w/ Dunn's promotion.

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (10-1 since last update)
OKC's only loss was to fellow juggernaut Cleveland. They were otherwise riding a 15-game win streak.
They are 21-2 since November 20th.
Incredible since Chet has been out since November 10th.

98 (+1) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (BADGE UPDATE)
11 GP/GS: 33.5 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 5.5 APG, 2.4 SPG, 1.5 BPG, 35 MPG (55 FG%, 39 3PT%, 96 FT%)
Two-way guard dominance we've only seen from MJ, Kobe, Wade.

BADGE UPDATE
TOTAL: 25 (+1)

FINISHING
GOLD: Float Game, Layup Mixmaster, Physical Finisher

SHOOTING
GOLD: Deadeye, Set Shot Specialist, Shifty Shooter
SILVER: Mini Marksman (ADD), Slippery Off-Ball

Sorry but no. Embarrassing that this is the only change. Not a serious company!

PLAYMAKING
GOLD: Bail Out, Break Starter, Strong Handle, Unpluckable, Versatile Visionary
SILVER: Ankle Assassin, Dimer, Handles For Days, Lightning Launch

DEFENSE/ATH/REB
GOLD: Glove, Interceptor, Pick Dodger
SILVER: Challenger, Off-Ball Pest, On-Ball Menace, Pogo Stick
BRONZE: Immovable Enforcer

----------------------------------------------------

85 (+1) Isaiah Hartenstein
11 GP/GS: 12.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.0 SPG, 1.4 BPG, 30 MPG (56 FG%, 71 FT%)

80 (-1) Lu Dort
10 GP/GS: 8.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 31 MPG (37 FG%, 40 3PT%)

79 (+1) Aaron Wiggins
11 GP, 2 GS: 10.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 21 MPG (54 FG%, 41 3PT%)

78 (+1) Kenrich Williams
11 GP: 6.5 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 13 MPG (54 FG%, 46 3PT%)
Playing his natural PF, rather than center, now that OKC actually has two healthy at the same time.

77 (-1) Isaiah Joe
11 GP, 1 GS: 6.6 PPG, 18 MPG (35 FG%, 29 3PT%)
Cold shooting & no longer platooning w/ Cason Wallace as the starting SG

76 (+1) Jaylin Williams
9 GP: 4.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 2.0 APG (41 FG%, 38 3PT%)
Has been the backup C since returning from injury.

76 (+1) Ajay Mitchell
9 GP, 1 GS: 9.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 1.7 APG, 19 MPG (57 FG%, 45 3PT%)
Mitchell is out the next 10-12 weeks with a toe injury. While he will get a standard contract (needs one to be playoff eligible), this likely delays that process until the end of the season.

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (6-6 since last update)
The Wolves lost 3, won 3, lost 3, won 3. Turbulent couple weeks.

92 (-1) Anthony Edwards
12 GP/GS: 24.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.0 SPG, 37 MPG (42 FG%, 44 3PT%, 83 FT%)
Edwards had a career-high 53-point game against the Pistons (and averaged 41 PPG over a 3-game stretch), so his drop could have been a lot worse. Leading up to that, he was only averaging 19 PPG over an 8-game stretch.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qgKfJ5AVMaU?si=youShCIiAbnge706" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

86 (+1) Julius Randle
12 GP/GS: 18.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 5.2 APG, 33 MPG (46 FG%, 38 3PT%, 83 FT%)

84 (-1) Rudy Gobert
12 GP/GS: 8.8 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 1.6 BPG, 32 MPG (60 FG%, 47 FT%)
Wemby's emergence means Gobert has likely won his final DPOY.

79 (-1) Mike Conley
12 GP, 9 GS: 7.0 PPG, 3.7 APG, 23 MPG (38 FG%, 37 3PT%, 92 FT%)
Father time caught up to Conley, who recently lost his starting job.

77 (+2) Donte DiVincenzo
12 GP, 3 GS: 13.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 3.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 28 MPG (45 FG%, 44 3PT%, 87 FT%)
While not a natural PG, DiVincenzo took the starting job away from Conley. He's over his early-season shooting struggles.

77 (-1) Nickeil Alexander-Walker
12 GP: 7.1 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.1 APG, 21 MPG (45 FG%, 42 3PT%)
Shouldn't have gone down, likely due to position change back to SG

74 (+3) Josh Minott (BIG MOVER
11 GP: 3.6 PPG, 8 MPG (47 FG%, 29 3PT%)
Largely just to get him on par w/ Joe Ingles, since he's ahead of him in the rotation (ingles has played once in the last 2 months).

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS (5-6 since last update)

82 (+2) Deni Avdija
11 GP, 7 GS: 17.9 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.5 APG, 0.9 SPG, 31 MPG (51 FG%, 36 3PT%, 77 FT%)
Avdija is over his early season slump now that he's playing his natural position again. It looks like he's overtaken Jerami Grant as the starter with this stretch.

81 (+2) Shaedon Sharpe
11 GP/GS: 20.5 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.1 SPG, 33 MPG (49 FG%, 38 3PT%, 76 FT%)

79 (-1) Jerami Grant
5 GP/GS: 9.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.4 APG, 1.0 BPG, 32 MPG (30 FG%, 37 3PT%, 85 FT%)
Grant has been out of the lineup due to a face injury, but didn't look good prior. The Blazers re-signed him w/ the intent of trading him, but is that even possible with this level of production?

78 (+1) Donovan Clingan
10 GP: 4.8 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 14 MPG (53 FG%, 3-7 3PT)
Remember when the Hornets drafted Tijane Salaun 6th? And then rostered Taj Gibson and were forced to play 2-Way Moussa Diabate as a starter for a month?

77 (+2) Scoot Henderson
11 GP: 11.8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 5.0 APG, 1.5 SPG, 26 MPG (41 FG%, 36 3PT%, 80 FT%)
Scoot having a lower rating than Banton never made sense.

75 (-2) Dalano Banton
4 GP: 3.5 PPG, 2.0 APG, 12 MPG (32 FG%, 17 3PT%)
Banton has been dealing with a hip injury.

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (5-7 since last update)
Overall the Warriors are 7-17 since November 23rd. They are down to 21st in ORTG (8th last season).

82 (-1) Draymond Green
10 GP/GS: 7.3 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, 1.6 BPG, 28 MPG (36 FG%, 28 3PT%)

81 (-2) Andrew Wiggins
11 GP/GS: 14.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 0.8 SPG, 1.0 BPG, 29 MPG (43 FG%, 31 3PT%, 94 FT%)

80 (-3) Dennis Schroder
12 GP/GS: 9.8 PPG, 4.8 APG, 28 MPG (33 FG%, 26 3PT%, 77 FT%)
Not sure why the Warriors continue to force double PG lineups. Playing Schroder as an off-guard, these results are not exactly unpredictable.

79 (+2) Trayce Jackson-Davis
12 GP, 11 GS: 11.7 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 2.6 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.2 BPG, 26 MPG (58 FG%, 72 FT%)
The Kuminga as a starter experiment ended, so TJD is back in the starting lineup.

77 (+1) Brandin Podziemski
6 GP: 9.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 2.5 APG, 1.7 SPG, 23 MPG (54 FG%, 53 3PT%)
Podz has been out with an abdomen injury.

77 (+1) Kyle Anderson
8 GP, 2 GS: 5.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 0.8 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 17 MPG (49 FG%, 58 3PT%)
Anderson has been playing a bit more w/ Kuminga sidelined.

76 (-4) Buddy Hield
12 GP, 3 GS: 8.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.6 APG, 21 MPG (37 FG%, 29 3PT%)
Remember when these idiots at 2K gave Buddy +6 OVR to an 84 when his shooting was unsustainably hot at the outset of the season?

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

WASHINGTON WIZARDS (3-8 since last update)
This actually qualifies as Washington's best stretch of the season. They were 2-22 prior to this.

83 (+2) Jordan Poole
6 GP/GS: 27.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.5 SPG, 34 MPG (44 FG%, 44 3PT%)

81 (+2) Alex Sarr (BADGE UPDATE)
9 GP/GS: 13.9 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.1 BPG, 28 MPG (46 FG%, 42 3PT%, 63 FT%)
Finally, a Rookie of the Year candidate emerges???
Over Sarr's first 22 games, he shot 39% and 27% from three. Hopefully he's able to maintain his current level.

BADGE UPDATE
TOTAL: 4 (+2)

FINISHING
SILVER: Aerial Wizard (+1)

SHOOTING
BRONZE: Set Shot Specialist (ADD)

DEFENSE/ATH/REB
BRONZE: High-Flying Denier, Pogo Stick

-------------------------------------------------------

81 (+1) Kyle Kuzma
6 GP, 4 GS: 13.7 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.3 APG, 1.0 SPG, 25 MPG (52 FG%, 24 3PT%, 27 FT%)

81 (-1) Malcolm Brogdon
9 GP, 5 GS: 13.9 PPG, 5.3 APG, 26 MPG (40 FG%, 30 3PT%, 92 FT%)

78 (+2) Corey Kispert
11 GP: 13.5 PPG, 27 MPG (50 FG%, 43 3PT%, 90 FT%)

75 (+1) Bub Carrington
11 GP/10 GS: 9.8 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 4.3 APG, 33 MPG (50 FG%, 44 3PT%)
Should have gone up way more than this.

75 (+1) Justin Champagnie
11 GP, 9 GS: 9.5 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 0.9 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 25 MPG (55 FG%, 45 3PT%)
Playing himself into an NBA career. Call him the anti-Kuzma.

74 (-1) Kyshawn George
11 GP, 2 GS: 5.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 0.9 SPG, 25 MPG (32 FG%, 23 3PT%, 71 FT%)

[GisherJohn24]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

No way is Draymond Green an 82.

[GisherJohn24]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

This is why I always drop everyone's intangibles rating to the minimum with whatever roster I'm using, usually tynoles or ATD.

If intangibles has any affect on gameplay, I've personally never noticed it, and the ratings spread to me is worth it.

Sent from my SM-S127DL using Operation Sports mobile app

the community rosters of intangibles are all over the place too. Usually if they're high on one roster, or low on another, I just keep them consistent I guess. It's the most confusing slider out there and never adequately explained by anyone at 2K. I always felt like if I raised it it would just make his ratings go up in every category without visually seeing it.

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

the community rosters of intangibles are all over the place too. Usually if they're high on one roster, or low on another, I just keep them consistent I guess. It's the most confusing slider out there and never adequately explained by anyone at 2K. I always felt like if I raised it it would just make his ratings go up in every category without visually seeing it.

There is somewhat of a scale. You'll notice most Two-Way players getting added to the game with a 50

The Scale I designed (that they actually adopted somewhat with the Two-Ways)

99: Superstar
90: All-Star
80: Starter
70: Role
60: Bench
50: G-League

The intent of this is to create the necessary separation between each player tier.

I believe 18 points of Intangibles in 2K25 = 1 point of OVR.
IIRC when I came up with this system, it was something like 13-15 pts of OVR were 1 OVR. The exact weight changes each year as Badges get added/removed (and this year we had a whole tier added)

If it were necessary, the scale could be extended (25-40-55-70-85-99). However I do think it's important to have a gap between 25-50 because there are always players (backup centers) that need to be tanked hard.

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

Current Team Badge Totals
134 Celtics
134 Knicks
128 Pacers
128 Wolves
125 Sixers
124 Mavs
124 Lakers
124 Warriors
122 Rockets (28-14 Record, 2nd in West)
119 Heat
117 Magic
114 Thunder (35-7 Record, 1st in East, 12th in Badges)
113 Suns
113 Pelicans
110 Bucks
110 Cavs (36-6 record, 1st in East, 16th in Badges)
108 Kings
108 Blazers
105 Clippers (24-18 Record, 5th in West)
103 Grizzlies (28-15 Record), 3rd in West
103 Nuggets (27-16 Record, 4th in West)
102 Spurs
96 Hawks
92 Bulls
91 Pistons (22-21 Record, 7th in East)
90 Hornets
89 Raptors
78 Jazz
78 Wizards
66 Nets
3,248 TOTAL
108.3 TEAM AVG
6.2 PLAYER AVG (Est 525 Players)

[kostaspap11]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

Do you think we are getting a ratings update today?

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

Do you think we are getting a ratings update today?

Last year was the 5th update
11/9
11/30
12/21
1/11
1/25
2/15
3/7
3/28
4/18
5/7

2K are technically one update ahead of last year's pace, but last year was also their worst pace (updates every 3 weeks). Seems like we're going back to a 3-week cycle for the rest of the year.

Key dates
Feb 6th: Trade Deadline
Feb 14-19th: All-Star Weekend + Break
Apr 13th: End of Regular season
Apr 15-18th: Play-In
Apr 19th: First Round Playoffs
Jun 5th-22nd: NBA Finals

They typically have an update for All-Star weekend, so not doing one today is going to mess with their calendar a bit. If they do an update on 1/30 they will both miss the Trade Deadline & not have many games played for a 2/13 roster.

(They could of course just do daily updates like they advertised 18 years ago but hey who am I to judge)

[jeebs9]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

Currently my biggest problem is Cade Cunningham. Not only does he need an upgraded post up game badly. His passing is terrible currently. Let's not even mention if you put him next to other high level passers in the NBA.

PAcc
PIQ
PVision
Currently Assist leaders are
Young 92 97 97
Jokic 93 98 98
Cade 79 84 91
James 90 97 90
Hailburton 95 95 90

How?

I know people will say TO's that's why Cade is so low. But then we we need to review....
Screenshot_20250125-195540.jpg

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[Real2KInsider]

Re: 5th Official NBA 2K25 Player Ratings Update - 1.10.25

Currently my biggest problem is Cade Cunningham. Not only does he need an upgraded post up game badly. His passing is terrible currently. Let's not even mention if you put him next to other high level passers in the NBA.

Currently Assist leaders are
PAcc /PIQ / PVision
Young 92 97 97
Jokic 93 98 98
Cade 79 84 91
James 90 97 90
Hailburton 95 95 90

VISION is based on Assist rate (and is the OG Pass Rating) so you should be sorting them by that.
85+ Pass Vision & qualified for leaderboards
98 Jokic (44.6 AST%)
97 Young (47.1 AST%)
94 LaMelo (43.4 AST%)
91 Cade (44.0 AST%) (Last season 38%)
90 LeBron (43.9 AST%)
90 Haliburton (35.6 AST%) (Last season 45%)
89 SGA (30.9 AST%)
86 Paul (38.3 AST%)

-Nothing to really see here with Cade, the anomalies are standard fluctuation from the last 3 weeks.
-Jokic is likely getting the Curry treatment
-Haliburton still has last season's performance factoring in.
-SGA is being artificially inflated bc they don't know how else to get his OVR higher (FWIW Shai is a 99 in my roster w/o having to resort to this nonsense)

85+ non-Leaderboard qualifiers
95 Morant (38.9 AST%) - DNQ (Last season 42% / Career 36%)
95 Luka (36.7 AST%) - DNQ (Last season 44% / Career 42%)
87 Simmons (42.0 AST%) - DNQ (Last season 33% / Career 35%)

I kept these separate mainly to avoid distracting from the Cade stat correlation. Lack of minutes means we're still using a multi-season blend.

Cade's IQ & Accuracy are clearly lacking relative to other assist leaders. Those ratings are directly influenced by Turnover rate, so you answered your own question really. Yes, Turnovers do in fact matter.

Pass IQ (aka one of the most arbitrary ratings in the game)
98: Jalen Brunson, Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
97: Trae Young, LeBron James, Stephen Curry
96: Devin Booker
95: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Josh Giddey, Darius Garland, Ja Morant, Tyrese Haliburton
94: James Harden
94: Monte Morris
93: LaMelo Ball
92: Donovan Mitchell, Draymond Green, Malcolm Brogdon
90: Spencer Dinwiddie, Chris Paul, Mike Conley

We can pretty clearly see this one isn't tied to anything at all. It really just comes down to whether or not they need to get a player's OVR up or not in a given year. They do factor A/T ratio a bit with some players like Monte Morris, Tyus Jones, etc (those guys can't shoot threes so how else can they get their OVRs up)

Nobody in their right mind would actually think Chris Paul has a lower Passing IQ than most of the players on this list, it's just a way to get his rating down (just like w/ Shot IQ, Intangibles, etc).

So I mean certainly, they'll raise Cade here, probably when he makes All-Star so they can put minimal effort into the rest of his model.

Pass Accuracy (Aka Pass IQ #2)
98: Luka Doncic
97: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
96: Josh Giddey, Ja Morant, Jalen Brunson
95: Tyrese Haliburton, Devin Booker
94: Monte Morris
93: LaMelo Ball, Nikola Jokic, Stephen Curry
92: Darius Garland, Trae Young
90: LeBron James, Chris Paul, Mike Conley

You would think they'd have a statistical model but this is just as arbitrary as IQ. Yes that is Josh Giddey with a top 5 Accuracy rating. Most players come in equal to or a few points lower than their IQ. At that point why do we even have separate ratings?

Assist / Turnover Ratio (Last season in parenthesize)
5.1 Paul (4.1)
4.8 Haliburton (4.7)
3.9 Conley (4.4)
3.4 Jokic (3.0)
3.1 Brunson (2.8)
2.8 Garland (2.3)
2.6 Young (2.5)
2.6 Lillard (2.6)
2.5 Simmons (3.2)
2.4 LeBron (2.4)
2.4 Giddey (2.3)
2.3 SGA (2.9)
2.3 Luka (2.4)
2.0 LaMelo (2.1)
2.0 Cade (2.2)
2.0 Morant (2.7)
1.8 Harden (3.3) - That's a crazy dropoff, everyone else on pretty stable, obv huge shift in on-ball role

Now obviously this doesn't account for the ball handling aspect (Conley for ex isn't the primary creator on their team). There are stats on Passing turnovers etc that we could dive into, but it's not really important to do so because 2K isn't putting anywhere close to this level of detail into their game anyway, nor does the game really benefit when one attempts to do so.

My general takeaway would be that Cade/LaMelo are getting assists just by virtue of having the ball a lot, heliocentricity ala Luka, but have a ways to go to being actual floor generals. Someone like Jalen Brunson or Darius Garland might not get the same raw assists totals but there should be little doubt who the better passers are. Not all assists are created equal. Those guys are closer to Trae than Cade/LaMelo are.

It reminds me a bit of the difference between Stephon Marbury and Jason Kidd, but I've already gone way deeper on this than I initially intended to.

As far as 2K is concerned, really the only thing that matters is whether Cade merits being in their inner circle illuminati of players who get to have high attributes because they need to (Shai, Ja, Brunson, etc). I think we all know what the answer is.