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The latest game of the NBA 2k series, NBA 2k19 was released 4 days back on 7th September. It features the Greek Freak Giannis Antentokounmpo as its main cover athlete, along with a couple of other stars in different countries starring on the cover page in their home countries.
The ratings are mostly unsurprising, and one should always take these ratings with a pinch of salt when comparing these players' play in real life with each other, but for the most part, they've done a decent job of correctly rating the crew.
Read on to find out who the top 10 point guards in this edition of NBA 2k are:
#10 Goran Dragic - 84
Goran Dragic was an injury replacement for the All-Star game last season, marking his first bow at the marquee event.
He's been at an All-Star caliber level of play for at least five seasons now and was even named to the All-NBA Third Team in the 2013-14 season when he was still playing with the Phoenix Suns.
The only borderline elite player on the Miami Heat roster, Dragic has been their offensive hub for over 3 seasons now and has been responsible for them making the playoffs twice in the last 3 seasons (they missed out by just 1 game at the end of last season).
Dragic's 84 rating seems to be a bit on the low side considering his Ginobili-like ability to get to the rim and step-back jumpers.
#9 Kyle Lowry - 85
Lowry is one of the best sharpshooting point guards in the history of the league. Quite like Steph Curry, his presence on the floor causes a disproportionate geometric shift in team defensive schemes as they have to account for his ability to knock down open jumpers from anywhere in the 30 ft range of the basket.
His shooting, playmaking, rebounding and defensive abilities are all packaged into a stout 6-footer's frame, and he's been the Raptors' best playoff player over the last couple of postseasons in the face of DeMar DeRozan's repeated meltdowns.
Now squarely the second fiddle to Kawhi for at least one season, expect Lowry to become even more potent than ever.
#8 Jrue Holiday - 85
In the course of a couple of seasons, Jrue Holiday has gone from being quite overrated to severely underrated. While his only All-Star game appearance came five years back during his time with the Sixers, he played arguably his best two-way basketball as a shooting guard for the Pelicans in the second half of last season.
Listed mistakenly as a point guard on NBA 2k, Holiday is a combo guard who spends most of his time at the 2-guard spot and some time even as a small forward for the Pelicans but is one of the best do-it-all players in the league.
He earned a well-deserved All-Defensive Second Team selection for his 2017-18 campaign, and I'm damn sure that if Holiday were a Laker, he would be an All-Star and an All-NBA player with an 88 rating rather than the 85 that he currently boasts of.
#7 Kemba Walker - 86
Kemba Walker has been the lone bright spot for the Charlotte Hornets in the past few seasons, as they've wasted lottery pick after juicy lottery pick on players who never lived up to their pre-draft hype.
Drafted 9th overall in 2011, Walker started off as a high-usage, low-efficiency player who had no range. Incremental improvements every season have allowed him to become a more effective playmaker as well as more efficient at scoring the ball. He's averaged over 20 points per game in the last three seasons and has made the All-Star team twice.
He is an average defender but is getting better at it with added NBA experience. One can expect him to continue to deliver at the same rate as he has in the past couple of seasons.
#6 John Wall - 89
The first one of the really elite, fringe-MVP caliber point guards on this list is John Wall, who's been rated at 89 for the second season running. Wall played some of the best basketball he's ever displayed this past season, but the injury bug kept biting him on numerous occasions through the season and caused him to miss nearly half of the Wizards' season.
A perennial 20 and 10 guy with elite defensive skills, Wall is one of the best half-court set playmakers in the league.
His facilitating skills in the pick-and-roll will be of great use alongside Dwight Howard as the roll man, should the 2004 No.1 overall pick agree to reduce his low-post usage and play more akin to the likes of DeAndre Jordan, Steven Adams and Clint Capela - three centers who've become more important to their teams' success than DH12.
Wall will be looking to lead the Wizards to the first Conference Finals in 40 seasons this year.
#5 Damian Lillard - 89
Lillard has hovered around the 90 overall rating for a long time now and actually attained that rating by the end of the 2016-17 campaign. 89 is a bit on the lower side considering that he's already an elite scorer by any standards, historically, but his lackluster defense may be the reason for this rating.
Lillard had a 2017-18 regular season good enough to earn his first All-NBA First Team selection.
There was always a sense, however, that the Blazers had overachieved during the regular season, and this notion was proved right when they got swept in the first round despite enjoying a home advantage over the Pelicans.
The aforementioned Jrue Holiday put the clamps down on Dame, and this has resulted in his rating being bumped down by a point once more at the end of the season.
#4 Chris Paul - 90
If LeBron's 'descent' into the twilight of his career has grabbed headlines left, right and center, CP3's game has aged about as well without the same kind of attention.
Nevertheless, his addition to the Rockets' roster improved their fortunes by sizeable margins last year, as they went from winning 55 games, the 3rd seed and a second-round exit in 2017 to a league-best 65 games, top seed and a 7-game marathon against the Warriors in the Conference Finals this year.
Paul is still the best pure point guard in the NBA. He prefers to always get his teammates going unlike the score-first guards who are garnering more eyeballs in this day and age, but he can go toe-to-toe with the best of them in case the Rockets have Harden misfiring - his playoff career high came against the Utah Jazz in this year's playoffs.
#3 Kyrie Irving - 93
The cover athlete for NBA 2k18, the Celtics point guard was rated at 90 at the start of the 2017-18 regular season.
His strong displays with a new franchise as the first option led to his rating getting bumped up to 93 by December last year, and he's done well to justify the rating - although it might seem facetious to rate him above Chris Paul even at this juncture of their careers.
As unstoppable a player on offense as anyone in the league, Irving's mastery of isolation basketball helps him be one of the clutchest players today, as well as historically. His shot over Steph Curry to break the deadlock with less than 1 minute remaining in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals is one of the most iconic shots ever.
Irving figures as an MVP candidate if he continues to play at his established level and the Celtics finish with over 60 wins and the first seed in the Eastern Conference.
#2 Russell Westbroook - 93
The Brody continues to go as strong in the gaming world as he's been in the real world. On the verge of turning 30 in the space of a few weeks, Westbrook posted his second successive regular season with a triple-double average in 2017-18, becoming the only player in the history of the NBA to achieve this feat.
Westbrook will be stoked more than ever at the idea of leading a capable Thunder roster to a deep run in the playoffs.
The signing of Paul George in free agency has bolstered Oklahoma City's desirability as a free agent destination for the foreseeable future and gives Westbrook a clear second option to work with on offense and a premier wing defender to pair up with Andre Roberson.
His overall rating peaked in 2k18 following his first triple-double campaign which also led to him winning the Maurice Podoloff MVP trophy and his highest in-game rating of 94.
#1 Stephen Curry - 95
The three-time champion and two-time MVP continues his reign at the top of the 2k ratings list for the fourth straight release of the franchise.
He was first upgraded to a plus-90 rating in 2k16, for which he was also the highest-rated point guard. This came in the wake of his first MVP campaign (2014-15), and was followed by his otherworldly campaign that led to him being named the unanimous MVP for 2015-16.
Curry, at the age of 30, is in the prime of his career and is shooting as well as ever, having achieved his career high in True Shooting percentage (TS%) in the 2017-18 campaign.
The joining of Kevin Durant notwithstanding, he continues to be the lifeblood of the historically great Warriors offense that has steamrollered any and every team that it's met in the playoffs in the past 2 seasons.
Curry's highest rating of 96 is available on the '15-16 Warriors lineup that is now a new addition to the all-time roster list.
