The Brooklyn Nets’ days of boasting star studded rosters seemingly made for video games are long gone. NBA2K26, this year’s addition of league’s critically acclaimed basketball video game, didn’t waste time reminding us of that.
Despite the game being four days away from its “early access” launch, 2K spent the last handful of weeks releasing the overall scores of its 100 highest rated players. While surely a marketing ploy to ignite debate, conversation, and hype around the game to drive purchases,
these scores indicate general opinion on the team and it’s players individuals. In some cases, they’re even used as motivational factors.
For the Nets, that’s little and a lot. According to the game’s official site, they only had one player grace the top 100, that being the newly acquired Michael Porter Jr.
Earning 82 overall score, MPJ clocked in as the 67th best player in the game. Curiously, he finished in the exact same slot last year.
A few notable players just beating him out include Cameron Johnson, who the team traded to acquire him and a future first round pick, earning an 83 overall score. Mikal Bridges, who Brooklyn shipped out a year before that and experienced and up-and-down year with the New York Knicks, got tagged with an 84 overall score.
While technically still a free agent, one notable Net missing from the list was Cam Thomas. Despite being seen as the best player on the team by a sizable faction of the fanbase, he failed to make the official Top-100 list. Nic Claxton, who looked to be one of the game’s top defensive players a year and a half ago, did not make it either.
Able to score from anywhere and quick off the dribble, Thomas’ skillset make him a gamer’s dream “player one” when it comes to NBA2K. This isn’t a game where a guy’s off-ball defense or court vision play much of a factor. You do all the passing yourself. You’re either the primary defender or have the ball in your hands at all time.
For one of those, I feel comfortable saying there’s no more than 30 guys in the NBA who operate better than CT, and that’s being generous. Like really generous. That likely equates a top-100 place even with Thomas’ other inefficiencies accounted for, which again, aren’t something that factor into the gameplay.
As a guy with a polarizing value, proven every day his ongoing restricted free agency, it’s difficult to state an opinion on Thomas that isn’t or shouldn’t be challenged. However, this isn’t one of those. As something that’s supposed to celebrate a player’s individual skills and has a historic emphasis on scoring, Thomas undoubtedly deserves a spot on the list, surpassing guys like Onyeka Okongwu and Josh Hart.
Congrats, NBA2K marketing guys, you got me to bite.
