Is Gordon Hayward's NBA 2k18 overall rating justified, or is it too low?

Chances are if you're a basketball fan and you play video games, you've probably played the NBA 2k series. If you have played NBA 2k then you understand just how important the player ratings are. We all have our favorite players and teams, and at some point we've all questioned a rating or two. With every new NBA basketball season comes a new NBA 2k, and this year isn't any different. NBA 2k18 is scheduled for release on September 18, 2017 but prior to the launch 2k has released some of the player ratings for fans to preview.

This year one of those players is the newest superstar for the Boston Celtics, Gordon Hayward. With an overall player rating of 88, Gordon's rating is definitely solid, but is it accurate? Being an avid basketball fan and huge gamer I thought we should break it down, and what better way to do so than to compare it directly to Finals MVP Kevin Durant? KD's overall rating is 96, the highest player rating that's been released so far, and this serves as a great reference for comparison.


Let's take a look at both players during the 2016-17 season and see if these ratings are justified. When it comes to shooting percentage, Hayward shot .471 from the field, .398 from three-point, and .844 from the line; meanwhile Durant shot .537 from the field, .375 from three-point, and .875 from the line. Other stats of importance per game for Gordon are 21.9 points, 3.5 assists, and 5.4 rebounds; versus per game stats for Kevin of 25.1 points, 4.8 assists, and 8.3 rebounds. Are these stat differences enough to justify an eight point discrepancy in overall player rating?


Defensively, both players are almost identical, but Hayward had a slight edge on Durant overall. To get a more accurate assessment, I decided to look at Stephen Curry. Stephen, having an overall rating of 94, is the second highest player rating released to date. Curry's shooting percentage being .468 from the field, .411 from three-point, and .898 from the line; his other stats per game being 25.3 points, 6.6 assists, and 4.5 rebounds. Gordon and Kevin both having higher defensive ratings than Stephen, one could argue that, based off of these stats, the overall player ratings just don't add up. The only explanation for the difference in stats is either Hayward's rating is too low or Durant and Curry's ratings are too high.

The only variables in this math equation are the NBA Championship and the Finals MVP, because all three players were selected as all-stars in the West. The championship is won by a team and not just a player, and I really don't know how much bearing that could have on an overall player rating. The MVP is awarded to a single player, it just so happen to be Kevin Durant who was the best player on the Golden State Warriors super team during the NBA Finals. Whatever computer algorithm or calculation is used to determine 2k ratings, one thing is for certain, there will always be discrepancies.

Here's a fun fact about 2k Games, who are the makers of NBA 2k18, they were founded in Novato, California. Novato is located pretty close to Oakland and San Francisco, in the Northern part of the state, not too far from where the Warriors play basketball.




Photo credits:

NBA2k.com