The latest round of NBA 2K ratings have leaked online, giving Toronto Raptors fans another reason to lash out at the collective mainstream basketball media for underrating their team. The Raptors were treated as a middle-of-the-pack team once again.
As a team, Toronto was given an 81 overall rating. That’s the same mark as the Lakers, widely regarded as one of the least deep rotations in the sport, and the Wizards, who aren’t viewed as a playoff team. Toronto won 48 games, but that’s not enough to be ranked among the league’s elite.
The Raptors don’t have one player ranked higher than Pascal Siakam at 86 overall. While that puts him in select company, that doesn’t seem like the highest rating for someone fresh off an All-NBA season in which he carried the offensive load for a No. 5 seed.
The Raptors’ status as perpetual underdogs has once again made them a 2K team that will almost assuredly have their ratings positively pumped up by the time the middle of the season comes around. These 3 ratings stand out as the most confusing and egregious of the entire 2K23 batch.
3 most underrated Toronto Raptors players in NBA 2K23
3. OG Anunoby (81)
Terry Rozier, Jusuf Nurkic, Jalen Green, and Josh Giddey all rank above Anunoby despite lacking the productivity he brings to the table on both sides of the ball. Anunoby’s tight-lipped style and less-flamboyant game for an underrated team is the perfect storm for 2K to once again not give him his deserved digits.
Anunoby may have struggled with injuries over the last few years, but averaging 17.4 points per game with the versatility needed to defend all five positions on the floor effectively is not something you see every day. To treat it like it’s commonplace is a misstep from 2K.
Toronto Raptors: OG Anunoby was undervalued.
2K has often had difficulty valuing defense and effectively reflecting it in its ratings. While some of the finer points of defense might be harder to nail down, Anunoby is a near All-Defensive talent with the shooting ability of someone that could challenge for 20 points per game in a secondary offensive role.
Anunoby is the type of player who would have seen his overall bumped up a notch or two if he either played in a large American market or was more attention-grabbing in his style. As it is now, he is once again going to head into the season as a seldom-celebrated dynamo outside of Canada.