LeBron James, Anthony Davis highest-rated Lakers in NBA 2K23

The release of NBA 2K23 on Friday brings with it everyone’s favorite annual tradition: debating ratings of a video game. Each year, the release of 2K coincides with the build-up to the season itself and comes at a time during the summer and offseason when people have nothing else to do but debate ratings.

For the Lakers this season, it’s a bit of an underwhelming debate. LeBron James maintains his spot as the best player on the Laker with a rating of 96 — also one of the highest in the league with only Giannis Antetokounmpo ranked higher than him — while Anthony Davis is rated 90.

After that, it’s a pretty notable drop down to the next best player on the roster with Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley both rated a 78. The rest of the roster as a whole falls into a fairly narrow rating window after LeBron and AD.

Here’s a full list of the overall ratings for the Lakers roster:

• LeBron James - 96
• Anthony Davis - 90
• Patrick Beverley - 78
• Russell Westbrook - 78
• Thomas Bryant - 76
• Lonnie Walker IV - 75
• Kendrick Nunn - 74
• Austin Reaves - 74
• Troy Brown Jr. - 72
• Juan Toscano-Anderson - 72
• Damian Jones - 72
• Wenyen Gabriel - 71
• Max Christie - 70
• Scotty Pippen Jr. - 68
• Cole Swider - 67
• Jay Huff - 67

Taking a glimpse at some of the specific ratings for various skills, just to spark some more friendly, healthy debate, and it looks like 2K doesn’t believe the Lakers have much in the way of shooting, either. Nunn has the highest 3-point shot rating of 81 while LeBron, Brown, and Swider all have a 79.

After a...dismal year shooting from range last season, AD’s 3-point rating of 70 is tied for second-lowest on the team with only Jones ranked lower. Russ sits just above him with a 3-point rating of 72.

PatBev has a perimeter defensive rating of 90 and LeBron a (generous) rating of 89. AD is next-highest at 80, then there’s a pretty healthy drop to Walker and Russ, each at 74. AD is the only Laker who appears to know how to defend the interior with a rating of 94. LeBron has an 82 and then Jones has a 76.

The very tangible and easily-explained intangibles rating for 2K sees LeBron with a 98 and Reaves and Russ having equal intangible ratings of 90.

Some of the rumored or potential trade targets for the Lakers include Utah’s Bojan Bogdanovic, whose 82 3-point rating would be the best on the team, and Indiana’s Buddy Hield with an 85 3-point rating. Myles Turner of the Pacers would give the Lakers two (2) competent interior defenders with his rating of 87 while New York’s Cam Reddish’s potential rating of 76 has to be something the Lakers disagree with considering how much they’ve pursued him.

Which rating do you agree or disagree with most? Let us know in a good-hearted, “definitely not pointless debate” comment down below!

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