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As a feature from Alex Kennedy of Hoopshype made very clear this week, some NBA players care quite a bit about their NBA 2K ratings, even if they don’t all admit it publicly. Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson evidently isn’t among the latter group, and was more than willing to share their thoughts on his personal rating with fans Tuesday:
FOR THE FANS GOODLOOKS @Ronnie2K @NBA2K FOR MY #2KFirstLook #NBA2K18 pic.twitter.com/8UGVCaPzuq
— Jordan Clarkson (@JordanClarksons) August 23, 2017
Wow, so it seems like he’s pretty excited! He probably is going to buy the game and — Oh wait a second...
weakass video game that why i dont play that shit
— Jordan Clarkson (@JordanClarksons) August 23, 2017
— Jordan Clarkson (@JordanClarksons) August 23, 2017
Well then. Tell us how you really feel, Jordan.
Clarkson actually might not have much to be upset about. He was rated a 77 overall last year and maintained that rating despite his advanced statistics regressing nearly across the board.
Still, Clarkson wouldn’t have made it to the NBA as a second-round pick and worked his way into a $48 million contract without supreme confidence in his own abilities, so it’s really not that shocking he feels slighted by the video game simulation. It doesn’t mean the rating is wrong, but Clarkson wouldn’t be where he is without feeling like it is.
Clarkson also isn’t the first Lakers player to feud with NBA 2K on Twitter this summer (And yes, that is a ridiculous sentence but no you are not hallucinating it).
Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram notably got NBA 2K randomly generated player Atlanta Hawks rookie John Collins to tweet a picture of himself getting dunked on by raising hell on social media over Collins’ 2K rating image featuring him dunking on Ingram:
@Ronnie2K #NBA2K18 #NBA2K #NBA2KFIRSTLOOK pic.twitter.com/9yiHHAgyAO
— John Collins (@jcollins20_) August 11, 2017
Cuz that will never happen ♂️ https://t.co/qI6Px4FWVO
— Brandon X. Ingram (@B_Ingram13) August 11, 2017
2k you got 24 hours to change this pic before you lose a customer https://t.co/GVtj0MrzEQ
— Lonzo Ball (@ZO2_) August 12, 2017
Since some people take 2k sooo seriously! #NBA2K18 #NBA2K #NBA2KFirstLook @Ronnie2K @NBA2K pic.twitter.com/cqHShLyu5d
— John Collins (@jcollins20_) August 12, 2017
Regardless of if you agree with Clarkson’s rating or not, I think we can all agree the best-case scenario here is him channeling his inner Hassan Whiteside and playing super well to start the year, followed by the admission that it was all in an effort to raise his 2K rating so he could play as the Lakers in the game and actually win.
Come on, Jordan. Do it for the content.
Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.