The life of a sports video game rater must be a stressful one, as player ratings and who is too high or too low remains a constant source of discussion whenever a new game drops. While the experts assessing the players and assigning attributes tend to do a pretty good job of things, that doesn’t mean there aren’t still players who overperform their ratings-based expectations from year to year.
With teams in the NBA currently rounding past the quarter pole, we decided to take a look at who is doing more for their team this season than their NBA 2K26 rating would imply they should. Here are our standouts, from highest OVR to lowest.
James Harden (90 OVR, 25th Highest)
The highest-rated player on our list, and the only one holding a “should be a team’s top player” level ranking, Harden is still currently outperforming those expectations, even for a Clippers team that is bordering on complete disaster this season.
Harden may not be putting up MVP-caliber numbers this year like he was capable of at his peak, but he is undergoing a bit of a revival, sitting 9th in the league in Value Above Replacement Player (VORP) and 14th in Box Plus-Minus (BPM). If only the Clippers could say the same for the other veteran guard the club had hoped to ride back into title relevance this season.
Alperen Sengun (OVR 88, 32nd Highest)
A fringe-team star-level player according to 2K Ratings, Sengun is going above and beyond with some elite advanced metrics this season. Currently averaging 23.1 points per game, 9.1 boards, and 7.1 assists for the Rockets, Sengun is currently top ten in both VORP (#8) and BPM (#6) through 19 games.
While it’s still early in the year and there is the potential he may fall off a bit as the year progresses, Sengun is making a good case for being a breakout player ready for a bump into the 90s next time out.
Julius Randle (88 OVR, 35th Highest)
Nobody is surprised that Julius Randle is having a good year, but even by that standard, he is outperforming the ratings expectations. While the game posts Anthony Edwards as the clear leading man with his 95 rating, Randle is more than holding his own on the real court, where the two hold matching VORP on the year.
The most notable change for Randle this year has been on the offensive end, where his scoring more points and creating more buckets for his teammates, significantly increasing his value on the attack.
Austin Reaves (88 OVR, 36th Highest)
When the Lakers acquired Luka Doncic in one of the most mocked trades in NBA history last season, many fans dreamed of the one-two punch that the Lakers now pack. With Luka now in his first full season with the team, they’re getting to see just that, but who that second punch is coming from is a bit less predictable.
Reaves has gone supernova so far this season, sitting 15th in VORP and 16th in BPM. He’s scoring nearly twice as many points as his career averages and adding 50-percent more assists and rebounds for good measure.
Jalen Johnson (87 OVR, 45h Highest)
Jalen Johnson came into the season as one of the most commonly cited names for players who had the potential to be better than their rating this season, and he’s lived up to the hype so far. With the 12th-best VORP and 15th-best BPM, the advanced numbers back up Johnson’s breakout year, but it doesn’t stop there. If you prefer some more traditional metrics, he’s nearly doubling his career averages in points, assists, and rebounds. Though just under a quarter of the way through the season, he’s already well over halfway to setting a new personal best for points in a season and looks set for a jump next time out.
Reed Sheppard (80 OVR, Outside Top-100)
Now we’re hitting the really surprising players, as we are at the bottom of the 80s with mid-90s production. Despite his low ratings in 2K, Sheppard is a top-20 player in the league this season according to VORP, where he sits 205h.
Analysts who prefer BPM will be even higher on Sheppard as he is sitting right on the edge of the top-10 currently. Although more-highly rated than the remaining two players on the list, Sheppard’s elite advanced metrics mean he has a good case for being the most underrated player by production this season in the entire game.
Santi Aldama (79 OVR, Outside Top-100)
Although Santi Aldama is not exactly setting the basketball world on fire right now, at the 34th highest BPM in the league, he is contributing as much as a very good #2 option on a team right now. Not bad performance for somebody who wasn’t even able to crack the 80s on OVR this season. If he keeps this up, he’ll see a healthy bump in the years ahead as the ratings try to catch up to his actual contribution.
Collin Gillespie (77 OVR, Outside Top-100)
Coming into the season, the Phoenix Suns had an elite option at point guard in the form of Devin Booker, but after 22 games, it’s not 93-rated Devin Booker that is leading the team on advanced metrics. Instead, it’s unheralded Collin Gillespie who has gone from a bit player in his first two seasons to a top-30 advanced numbers player this season and the Suns top-rated player.
He’s currently 26th in VORP and 24th in BPM. Even if there is a regression back toward the numbers he has posted in the past, it’s unlikely he is going to see a significant boost to his rating in 2K27, given his mediocre rating this time out.
