The 21st Century is already a quarter past, and that makes it a great time to look back on the sports video games and their dominant athletes through the years. This All-NBA team puts the most impressive, dominant, and fun virtual basketball players together on one unstoppable NBA 2K team. With just five starting sports available and a few rotation players, this is the most competitive of all the Quarter Century teams, and the final roster is a true force.
Point Guard
I think there’s nothing that speaks more perfectly to the entertainment that Steph Curry brings to the table other than to say there’s likely never been a player who broke 2K’s ability to accurately represent him more than Curry, and yet despite the shortcoming he’s still one of the most fun and dominant players ever. Curry’s real-world game is built around an impossible shooting range and the kind of vision and passing diversity that ensures he will cut you to ribbons if you overcommit to stopping his shots, too.
To play against a peak Steph with his maxed out abilities from long range was an exercise in futility as he effortless rained no-chance three’s in like layups. For NBA 2K16 Digital Steph required a full reworking of the game’s under the hood calculations to accurately represent Steph’s lethal range without breaking the game for normal players, as noted by face of 2K Ronnie Singh, If that doesn’t secure your spot on the team, nothing will.
Shooting Guard
Finding the right player to pair with Curry in the backcourt is a challenging proposition with some excellent options for the position, but one name emerged as the lead contender. It’s no accident that when LeBron James was looking for the right teammate to join and kick off the modern super team era, it was Dwyane Wade that he sought out. Wade is beyond any shadow of a doubt one of the best players of the latest century, and a truly dynamic and dominant 2K player as well.
A part of both the LeBron era Heat and the Shaq titles, Wade had a long and storied career in the 2000s with year after year of 2K debuting a new Wade, just as terrifying and effective as the one before him. He can join all his modern Dream Team pals and in-league friends in his 97-rated 2K11 form. A joint-highest rated player alongside James and Kobe Bryant, Wade was an unplayable nightmare on offense and a lethal addition to the all-time team.
Small Forward
Few sports debates have raged for longer or more intensely than the GOAT debate. Fortunately for our purposes, this is a non-entity. Michael Jordan’s glory days came before the turn of the century, as Wizards MJ is not cracking this list. Instead, the uncontested title of best player in the 2000s goes to LeBron James, the most no-brainer selection on this list.
There is nothing on the basketball court that LeBron has not excelled at during at least some portion of his career, and for nearly all of it, he has excelled at nearly everything all at once. James can play and produce offensively from all over the court, and in his peak years, he also came with the kind of defensive attributes that let you lock down whoever you needed to on the opposing team, secure in the knowledge he had the toolset for the job.
You’re spoiled for choice with options for James, who hit 97 in 2K26 and hasn’t dropped below 94 in 22 games since, including a 99 top-out in his final year as a member of the Heat for 2K14.
Power Forward
The San Antonio Spurs built one of the most successful franchises in the late 90s and 2000s, built around a core of two of the best big men of all time. In addition to center David Robinson, the Spurs and Coach Greg Popovich got their hands on power forward Tim Duncan and never looked back. The two combined to be a handful to deal with on both ends of the court and helped San Antonio develop a dynasty.
While Robinson was already a star before Duncan arrived, it was the young Wake Forest graduate who brought the team to a new level. This also transferred over to the world of 2K, where Duncan was routinely among the most valuable players in the game.
Twice the big man maxed out ratings at 99 in both 2K4 and 2K6, with his 2K5 edition available as 98 in 2K25, for one of the more dominant three-year runs by a video game athlete. In addition to being able to finish on the offensive side and get your team the big buckets it needs, Duncan could erase opposing offenses around the rim and gobble up the boards with his never-ending arms.
Center
It would be easy enough, and no doubt very successful, to pair Duncan up with Robinson here and call it a day. While Robinson was a force to be reckoned with, however, there is simply no denying Shaquille O’Neal. The Big Aristotle was a one-of-a-kind player who posed a physical presence that gave NBA teams headaches for more than a decade. Shaq nearly brought the Magic to an NBA title before moving on to famously successful stints in Los Angeles and Miami, then running down his final years in some less-impactful stops.
At his peak, there was just no stopping O’Neal other than fouling him and sending him to shoot some famously inaccurate free throws. As a video game character, this made him wildly fun to play as. He could bully his way to the rim at will and destroy opposing offensive plays, and that’s without Duncan providing defensive assists for you.
While O’Neal had some of his best years before the new millennium, he still hit 99 in 2K2. Even with his late career years saddling him with some sub-80 numbers to deal with is still one of the top ten players for highest average 2K rating, such was the amount of sky-high years he’d booked at the start of the aughts.
Rotation
Every team needs to have a rotation, but for a team this good, that rotation would still be best served by being very talented and small in number. Kevin Durant is one of the most dynamic scorers of all time, Nikola Jokic is an unstoppable, unique talent, and digital Chris Paul was the perfect guard to rotate in and get the ball in his hands on both sides of the ball when the smalls need a break. Each has the talent to hang and contribute with the first teamers while also bringing unique fun to the table.
With so few spots on the roster, this is as competitive as our All-Quarter Century squads get. Some amazing virtual ballers were left on the sidelines, so let us know who you’d add in if you were building your 21st-century all-video game basketball players list.
