25. Baron Davis
Game: NBA 2K2
Year: 2001
This is before Baron Davis had the NBA's best beard, pre-James Harden.
At the time, there was a real shortage of point guards who could get up; the top of the assists per game leaderboard was filled with the likes of Jason Kidd, John Stockton, Gary Payton and Mike Bibby. The points per game leaders were athletic freaks like Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter and the king of the volume shooters, Allen Iverson. But the clean-shaven Davis set the standard for later point guards like Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose who could both score and set up others.
Sure: maybe they score a little more willingly than pass, but they've got enough skill at the latter to make the former even more deadly. Injuries robbed Davis of the kind of hops he displayed early his career, but he still went on to have a tremendously successful stint with the Golden State Warriors playing Don Nelson's uptempo style. True to form, he was a terrific point guard on the fast break in NBA 2K2, back before your point guard always lagged behind to get the pass. Those were the days.
24. J.R. Smith
Game: NBA 2K10
Year: 2009
Some players dominate through a multi-faceted mastery of the game.
These players (think LeBron James, Michael Jordan) can be your east, west, north and south, doing a little or a lot of everything without too much difficulty. But then there are guys who do just one thing so unbelievably well that they're practically a force of nature. On the digital hardwood, that's J.R. Smith and his shooting.
Somewhere around NBA 2K10, Smith's shooting motion became so buttery in the game as to rival Ray Allen's. The timing was so generous that it was almost impossible to miss with him from the 3-point line. That long-range threat also opened up lanes to the basket that let him finish with authority (lest we forget that he participated in and acquitted himself well in the Slam Dunk Contest once upon a time). In real life, Smith has only been able to put these things together capably in short stints, such as down the stretch last season, a spurt that earned him Sixth Man of the Year honors. The formula's a lot easier in 2K: 3-ball, rinse, repeat.
23. Jason Richardson
Game: NBA 2K3
Year: 2002
Before 2K Sports nerfed the fastbreak game somewhere around NBA 2K12, one of the series' great joys was grabbing a defensive rebound and throwing the outlet pass before you even landed to a streaking shooting guard for a breakaway dunk. When it came to finishing that play, Jason Richardson was one of the best of all time.
The season after he won the Slam Dunk Contest, Richardson was a flat-out monster in NBA 2K3, able to hit shots from distance but also built with an extra gear that other players didn't seem to have. On any fastbreak opportunity he was always out ahead of the pack, pushing the action like he wanted to eat the rim whole. And those dunks: never less than authoritative, they were often jaw-dropping, enough to get you to jump off your couch and pump your fist.
22. Ray Allen
Game: NBA 2K8
Year: 2007
An important thing happened in NBA 2K7 that set the table for Ray Allen's awesomeness in NBA 2K8: the addition of Signature Styles to the game.
Before then, Allen was simply a knockdown jump shooter (and decent finisher as well), but once his silky smooth jumper was brought into the game it became almost unfair to use him, especially once he was added to a Celtics team in the 2007 offseason. Surrounded by Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett (plus the budding talent of Rajon Rondo), Allen was poised to look even better and NBA 2K8 blessed him with a 92 Overall Rating, placing him in the top five of shooting guards with Tracy McGrady, Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant.
Let's face it: As much as 2K has always prided itself on being a simulation of the game, it has-like Bill Russell says-always been about buckets and Allen in 2K8 was one of the best bucket-getters from long range the game has ever seen.
21. Greg Oden
Game: NBA 2K9
Year: 2008
The 2008-09 season should have been the year of Greg Oden.
Now, it's easy to look back at the 2007 draft and wonder what the Trail Blazers were thinking taking Oden over world-destroyer Durant, but it didn't look that way then. Hell, Durant didn't even do all that well in his rookie year when he mostly played shooting guard-weirdly-for the Seattle Supersonics. Oden was supposed to be the kind of giant athletic defender the league was built around but rarely saw fully realized at the time and in NBA 2K9 he was just that.
A year removed from the microfracture surgery that sidelines him for what should have been his rookie year, he looked poised to blow up and he played like it. With deft post moves he may not have truly earned and a big defensive and rebounding presence he certainly did, Oden was a pillar down low for a virtual Blazers team that also featured Brandon Roy. Released into a fantasy Association, he was a building block for years on end, frequently winning MVP awards in the process. Alas, it was never to be in the real world and even with a rumored comeback to the NBA this season, the chances that he'll light it on fire like he did in 2K9 are slim to none.
20. Rashard Lewis
Game: NBA 2K2
Year: 2001
Let's keep this one simple: Rashard Lewis in NBA 2K2 was Kevin Durant before Kevin Durant.
Six-foot-ten and blessed by 2K Sports with maybe a little more quickness than he actually had and an inerrant 3-point shot, Lewis towered over every two-guard in the game and could take just about any small forward off the dribble with a quick pump fake (which in the simpler times of 2K2 was just deadly).
In NBA 2K2 he was a cornerstone, a franchise player. It was no trick to drop 50 or 60 points with him regularly and by applying yourself it was no great feat to notch 100, even with 10 minute quarters, and he was even a decent rebounder, especially if you played him at shooting guard. Lewis' career, of course, didn't bear out the vaunted abilities given him by Visual Concepts, but hey, he still caught a ring this season with the Miami Heat.
19. Bill Russell
Game: NBA 2K13
Year: 2012
Bill Russell in NBA 2K13 is dominant in a kind of sneaky way, much as he was in real life.
Never a great shooter or even post player on offense, Russell control the virtual hardwood the way he controlled the real hardwood: through defense and rebounding. His Signature Skills point to this, with the full suite of Chasedown Block, Eraser and Defensive Anchor all at his command. You might not ever find yourself directly controlling Russell except for when he tears down a rebound and kicks it to a shooter or a player streaking up the court on the fastbreak, but you'll know how dominant he is when you look at your opponent's final score and see it's often only a little more than half your own.
18. Amar'e Stoudemire
Game: NBA 2K9
Year: 2008
It's a real toss-up for Amar'e Stoudemire's best year in the NBA 2K franchise. He had a great year in 2004-05 and was mega-nice in NBA 2K6, but Stoudemire in NBA 2K9 was probably at his peak as far as video game form is considered.
Always a better rebounder on the virtual hardwood than in real life, Stoudemire had a career year in 2007-08, posting career highs in Player Efficiency Rating (27.6), win shares per 48 (.262), true shooting percentage and effective field goal percentage (.656 and .592) and points-per-36-minutes (26.7). His success that season paved the way for his 94 rating in NBA 2K9, plus the series' offensive pick and roll game was at or near its peak, allowing for fantastic finishes on dishes from Steve Nash (or whatever point guard you wanted to pair him with).
Injuries would eventually strip Stoudemire of his terrific athleticism, but in NBA 2K9 he was at his digital peak.
17. John Havlicek
Game: NBA 2K13
Year: 2012
Here's the only thing that Swiss Army knife and original sixth-man John Havlicek doesn't do well: nothing.
Sure, his player model might look more like a state senator than a perennial All-Star, but underneath those tall striped socks and short shorts is a guy who can shoot, drive, dish and defend the bejeezus out of just about any 2 or 3 in the current NBA. Plus his shot is a very smooth straight up and down motion that's easy to score with from anywhere on the floor, belying his middling 75 rating for 3-point shooting. Whether you start him or keep in the sixth man role that made his name, Hondo (a nickname from a movie earned for his similarity in appearance to John Wayne) is a straight killer with the rock. Don't let the haircut fool you.
16. Dwyane Wade
Game: NBA 2K7
Year: 2006
Fresh off the Miami Heat's Finals victory at the end of the 2006 season and winning the Finals MVP award, Dwyane Wade was awarded in NBA 2K7 with an overall 98 rating.
And man did he ever play up to that rating: finishing in traffic, facilitating for teammates, knocking down high-degree-of-difficulty jumpers from almost anywhere (not 3-point range, but that's about it) and defending tenaciously no matter the match-up. He was an all-around threat, simply put, boasting a 95 Speed rating, a 94 Handle rating and a 99 Layup rating.
It can be easy to forget how good Wade was in real life, much less in NBA 2K7, simply because he spent so little time at the top before injuries incurred by his reckless and physical play began to slow him. His play for the Heat on their back-to-back championship teams has been inconsistent, but every once in a while he still flashes hints of the greatness captured in NBA 2K7.
15. Kevin Garnett
Game: ESPN NBA 2K5
Year: 2004
The 2003-04 was Kevin Garnett's best season as a Timberwolf, and after finishing as the runner-up to Tim Duncan in 2002-03, he won the regular season MVP award and led the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals where they lost to a flawed Lakers team, largely due to Sam Cassell's back problems.
But in ESPN NBA 2K5 he was the key to many a championship Association with a 99 rating and a complete arsenal that included a wicked face-up jumper, aggressive rebounding and defense and impressive passing, especially for a big man. What else would you expect for a player who led his team in points, rebounds, steals and blocks per game the previous season? Oh and he was second in assists per game. Garnett was one of the most complete players in any basketball video game this year, an absolute beast.
14. Vince Carter
Game: NBA 2K1
Year: 2000
There were players before Vince Carter who got tagged with the "next Jordan" label: Grant Hill, even Harold Miner (like anyone named "Harold" was ever going to be the next Jordan).
But when Vince Carter exploded into the NBA spotlight and our hearts with his terrifyingly amazing dunks and Slam Dunk Contest championship in 2000, it seemed like maybe this was going to be it. His breakout season in 1999-2000 earned him a spot as one of the two best shooting guards in NBA 2K1 alongside Kobe Bryant and-honestly-Carter was just more FUN to use. His top-flight 3-point shooting was perfect for setting up his forays to the rim: all it took was one pump fake and he was gone, flying through the air destructively with a rare combination of grace and power that earned him comparisons to Dominique Wilkins as well as His Airness.
Even now, Carter is a valuable sixth man for the Mavericks, but nothing will touch those early moments of his career-captured in NBA 2K1-when anything seemed possible.
13. Derrick Rose
Game: NBA 2K12
Year: 2011
The season after winning the regular season MVP, Derrick Rose went from only great to truly amazing in NBA 2K12.
His overall rating shot from an 85 to a 92, placing him squarely in the same category as Kevin Durant. His shooting got better and his dribble moves even silkier as he snaked to the rim and either threw it down or dropped his soft, signature runner in the lane. In short, he was one of the few players who could win you a game single-handedly in the backcourt, functioning well as a distributor and facilitator and even better as a scoring threat.
His season-ending injury during the 2012 playoffs kept him from online lineups all season, but you can bet he's going to vault right back up to the top once he comes back in NBA 2K14.
12. Arvydas Sabonis
Game: NBA 2K1
Year: 2000
Just because legendary Lithuanian Arvydas Sabonis was past his prime when he finally arrived in the NBA to play for the Portland Trail Blazers at the age of 31 doesn't mean he wasn't a dominant video game force.
Perhaps swayed more by his exploits as part of the Soviet team that won gold in the 1988 Summer Olympics than by the injuries that had slowed him considerably, the Sabonis that appeared in NBA 2K1 was like a stretch 4 from Mars. At 7'3", Sabonis could rebound and score around the basket but also pass and shoot the 3-pointer with reliable accuracy. The way he played cast a long shadow over future lesser if similarly constructed talents like Raef LaFrentz and Mehmet Okur. Just like the real NBA, we may never have gotten to experience Sabonis at the height of his powers as an athletic and versatile center, but the version we got in the first couple years of the NBA 2K series was plenty good enough.
11. Oscar Robertson
Game: NBA 2K13
Year: 2012
Just because he doesn't look like an All-Pro linebacker doesn't mean the man they called the Big "O" isn't every bit the multi-dimensional player that King James is.
Go ahead: dial up the 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (who are sadly lacking Lew Alcindor, an addition which would make this squad one of the best in NBA 2K history) and see what happens. Without even trying to, Robertson is likely to end up with 15 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. Or better yet, put him on a different team with some serious low-post options and wing help and watch him go for 25, 10 and 10. At 6'5", Robertson is a big guard, plus he has a smooth and easy-to-use shooting stroke that makes him great off the dribble or spotting up.
For the next fantasy Association you run, I highly recommend ditching one of the weaker NBA teams and adding in Robertson's Bucks in order to build around him. You won't be sorry.
10. Chris Paul
Game: NBA 2K9
Year: 2008
A pick and roll maestro, Chris Paul's 99 Overall Rating in NBA 2K9 dovetailed quite nicely with the high point of the game's offensive pick and roll play.
Starting with either NBA 2K10 or NBA 2K11 (depending on personal preference), the defense on pick and rolls got a little stouter, a little harder to pull off with easy aplomb. So hurray for realism, but pour one out for the death of a beautiful two-man game for which Paul was the absolutely perfect set up man. It didn't hurt at all that at the time the Hornets sported not one but two ideal PNR partners in Tyson Chandler and David West (who could also pick and pop with the best of them).
A slick ballhandler and master of threaded passes, Paul in 2K9 could also knock down stepback midrange Js with regularity. Add in the fact that he was one of the best perimeter defenders in the game and there's little doubt that Chris Paul in NBA 2K9 was one of the best point guards the series ever saw.
9. Kevin Durant
Game: NBA 2K12
Year: 2011
2K Sports has never gotten Kevin Durant's player model to look quite right.
Part of it is down to his freakish wingspan and part of it is down to his tremendously lanky frame, but the 2K versions of Durant have never truly conveyed the real thing's long-limbed visual appeal. But that doesn't really matter when they've captured his otherworldly game so well. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think in NBA 2K13 they had to nerf his shooting motion a bit to level the playing field-his 2K12 shot was so buttery smooth and automatic that it was practically gamebreaking.
And that was when he wasn't putting it on the floor, which he could do with equal aplomb. Put it this way: Durant is notoriously squirrelly about his height. Officially listed by the NBA at 6'9", he's pegged by Draft Express at 6'10.25" with a nearly 7'5" wingspan. So maybe it's a good thing that 2K hasn't been able to truly bring those pterodactyl-esque proportions into the game to go with his silky shot and fearsome finishing. It just might be the video game basketball apocalypse.
8. Yao Ming
Game: NBA 2K6
Year: 2005
Yao's real-life career might have been dogged by injuries, but in NBA 2K, he was more or less a human cheat code.
And the thing about Yao is that he enjoyed three years of ever-escalating ability in the game before suffering his first major injury early in the 2005-06 season, meaning that the NBA 2K6 version of Yao Ming is at the absolute height of his powers. His rebounding is unfair. His finishing is unfair (if not very dramatic). His midrange shooting is unfair. At 7'6", he's pretty clearly the tallest actually good player to ever play in the NBA. (Gheorghe Muresan and Manute Bol topped him at 7'7", but certainly didn't best him in talent.)
Based on the combination of his international and NBA careers, Yao is nearly a lock to make the Basketball Hall of Fame one day and become the tallest player ever awarded that honor. If it were based strictly on his NBA 2K career, he'd already be there.
7. Chris Webber
Game: NBA 2K2
Year: 2001
The early 2000s were a golden era for power forwards in the NBA with Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Dirk Nowitzki ascendant while legends like Karl Malone still prowled the paint.
Yet even among these Hall-of-Fame caliber players, Chris Webber stood out in the early years of the NBA 2K franchise. Freed from the injury difficulties that kept him from ever playing a full 82-game season in his career, Webber was a monster on the boards, a dominant scorer and an able passer, especially from the high post. Before 2K's post game became a Byzantine mess of twirls and syncopated trigger pulls, Webber was smooth as silk down low, ables to spin off defenders or drop step with just a few button presses.
Simply put, Webber was the kind of player who could easily lead your franchise in points, rebounds and assists per game.
6. Hakeem Olajuwon
Game: NBA 2K13
Year: 2012
Even with NBA 2K13's somewhat labrynthine post controls, Hakeem Olajuwon still handles like a dream-just like his nickname would indicate.
The first time you pull off the Dream Shake with Olajuwon is just as sweet as the first time you put one up off the glass with Iverson's signature lay-up or pull off Jordan's dunk-to-layup fake down the lane. The crazy thing about Olajuwon is that he's just as good on defense as he is on offense, making him one of the rare big men who aren't just one or the other. If you really want some fun, I recommend throwing the 1993-94 Rockets into the fantasy Association blender and picking Olajuwon to be your force down low to go with a small ball power forward like Thaddeus Young or-for REAL fun-LeBron James. Oh the places you'll go.
5. LeBron James
Game: NBA 2K13
Year: 2012
It's hard to pick just one year or version of NBA 2K where LeBron James was at his very best (and it seems likely that he'll be even more unsettlingly amazing next year when he's on the cover), but it's hard to argue against the LeBron from NBA 2K13.
Coming off his first championship, LeBron is a 99 rated player in a game that has gotten ever-more persnickety with its high ratings, and deservedly so. His 3-pointer is more consistent, his post game has matured, and he even makes a bigger difference on defense with the addition of Signature Skills like the chasedown block.
With the variety of things open to him now, it's almost difficult to NOT score with LeBron James. And even if you don't go to him often on offense, you'll find him a tenacious defender who still ends up with a near triple-double. In fifteen years they'll be making an edition of NBA 2K dedicated to LeBron like they did for Jordan in 2K11.
4. Shaquille O'Neal
Game: NBA 2K1
Year: 2000
The Big Aristotle might have been the cover athlete for NBA 2K6 and 2K7, but Shaq's best appearance as the Big Pixel has to be following his 2000 season when he was both the regular season and NBA Finals MVP for the Los Angeles Lakers.
At 28 he was at the height of his powers, as physically dominant as ever, but still with the quick spin moves down low that made him so dominant and a nice touch out of the post. He averaged a career-high 29.7 points per game in 2000 and a near career-high 13.6 rebounds per game (bested only by his rookie year's 13.9 rpg). 2K Sports rewarded that performance by making him one of the most destructive post players in the game's history, and even things like his subpar free throw shooting were mitigated by the fact that with default setting there are never as many fouls called in a game of 2K as in the real NBA. At least as far as 2K is concerned, Shaq could have added another nickname to his arsenal: The Big Cheat Code.
3. Kobe Bryant
Game: NBA 2K10
Year: 2009
Kobe Bryant was an overwhelming great player in NBA 2K for a long time before NBA 2K10, but when the Black Mamba finally got his cover spot, his virtual game seemed to take that leap from spectacular to nearly unfair.
If NBA 2K10 captured anything with uncanny accuracy, it was Kobe's tendency to take and make the most ludicrous circus shots possible. Whereas 2K entries from earlier in the decade positioned him as something like the athletic freak that Vince Carter was, with an array of impressive dunks and good outside shooting, the Kobe of 2K10 was slipperier and more nimble around the hoop, hitting his signature spinning fadeaways from all angles. If you used him in the game, he could get you out of almost any jam and if you played against him, you could do everything in your power to stop him and still come up short.
He was, in short, the definition of dominant.
2. Allen Iverson
Game: NBA 2K
Year: 1999
The attention lavished on Allen Iverson in NBA 2K's debut for the Dreamcast was evident in more than just his player model, which sported accurate tattoos and the most realistic face in a game where-let's face it-a lot of the models left something to be desired.
NBA 2K was the first basketball video game that really put dribbling and ball control at the forefront of the experience, and cover athlete Iverson was a wizard with the orange. Back before the Control Stick, back before IsoMotion, there was just the B button and with Iverson under your control, you were frequently surprised by the sick crossovers and spins he would pull off on his way to the net. As the game has evolved, 2K has given you ever more direct control over what players will do, but it's also robbed you of some of the wonder of seeing Iverson do things you didn't even know were possible. The historical Iverson from NBA 2K13 is still fun, sure, but near as wild and unbelievable as the original.
1. Michael Jordan
Game: NBA 2K13
Year: 2012
What can you possibly say about Michael Jordan as a video game character that hasn't already been said?
Even back when he was known as Roster Guard or Mike Jordache in '90s video games because of contractual problems when he left the NBPA he was tearing the pixels up and, starting with NBA 2K11, 2K Sports brought him back in a big way and in many different versions. Whether you're playing as the high-flying, athletic '80s version or the savvier late '90s version with the killer post play and keen eye for the court, Jordan is a dominating force, although unlike some earlier video game versions of him, it behooves you to play to his strengths depending on the era.
Not everything is an automatic dunk or slick fadeaway, making 2K Sports' take on Jordan his own worst enemy: you expect him to be a superhero, and so anything less can be a little frustrating. Use him well, though, and you will not be disappointed.