NBA 2K25 is right around the corner, which means it is time for fans and players alike to argue over each player's rating. These ratings mean a lot to players, and fans are invested in making sure that their favorite players' in-game abilities match up to their real-life skills. That includes the Philadelphia 76ers and their diehard fans.
Let's take a look at the 76ers' roster and identify which ratings deserve an adjustment in this year's edition of the popular video game series.
Tyrese Maxey at 89 overall
A rating of 89 is downright disrespectful to Tyrese Maxey. He’s an upcoming star for the 76ers, and he deserves at least a grade in the 90s. Ninety would barely cut it, but at least it would be symbolically meaningful. In reality, though, his grade should be at least a 92 or 93.
His athleticism alone should be rated in the top half of the 90s, and his shooting is good enough to reach the low 90s. Maxey is a lethal spot-up shooter from the outside, and he’s developed a nice bag of tricks to create space off the dribble. One of the most valuable skills in all of basketball is the ability to create space and get off a clean look anytime that you want. This makes a player a legitimate threat to the defense and helps prevent an offense from bogging down consistently.
Maxey has one of the best layup packages in the entire NBA. He might not quite be ready to challenge Kyrie Irving as the best player in the league when it comes to finishing at the rim, and he doesn’t quite have the above-the-rim explosiveness that players such as prime Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook had. Yet, his first step and end-to-end speed might be the best of any player since Rose was at his peak with the Chicago Bulls.
Maxey can get by defenders with ease, and he seems to have unlimited creativity when it comes to tricking defenders and getting them off balance. Maxey is equally effective finishing with both hands and he can score off the wrong foot without any problems. While he doesn’t have the best vertical leaping ability, Maxey has impressive hang time, and he knows how to use this skill to take shots at different angles, making it harder for defenders to time their blocking attempts.
Paul George at 89 overall
Just like Maxey, Paul George has a unique skill set that makes him much more valuable to the 76ers than these rankings portray. George is an elite defender who can put the clamps on even the best scorers in the league. He’s also a dynamic scorer in his own right who can create by himself when the defense tightens and his team's offense breaks down. George's top-tier athleticism and shooting stroke from behind the arc are some of the many reasons the 76ers signed him in free agency.
George is adept at spacing the floor as a secondary option to give his team's other ballhandlers a chance to make plays. However, he’s also completely comfortable taking the game into his own hands. He can call his own number and put the team on his back. George utilizes his athleticism along with his bag of ball handling tricks to create separation from defenders and find space to get off a good shot.
George should be rated in the low to mid-90s for his athleticism, in the mid-90s for both inside and outside shooting, and upper-90s for layups. Even at age 34, George’s ability is worth a grade in the low-90s. Overall, a cumulative grade of approximately 92 or 93 sounds about right for a dynamic player such as Paul George.
Joel Embiid dunk at 80 overall
The developers were way off with this rating. When it comes to throwing down dunks, there are very few players in the league who can claim to be as dominant as Joel Embiid. While the Sixers’ big man might not make leaping dunks from the free throw line or throw down 360 slams like some of the elite wings, Embiid makes up for that in other ways.
Embiid has incredible athleticism for his size, and he’s capable of some truly thunderous dunks. He can toss the ball to himself off the backboard and throw down tomahawks as well. Embiid's two-handed slams can sound like an earthquake if you’re in the arena. When Embiid gets some momentum, he’s like a runaway freight train who can absolutely decimate defenders who dare to challenge him at the rim.
Related NewsArticle continues below
Ricky Council IV dunk at 75 overall
Similar to Embiid, it’s not quite clear what the development team was thinking when they made this rating.
The most likely explanation for this rating is simply that it was decided ahead of time not to give Ricky Council IV a decent overall score. Putting his dunk where it deserved would have necessarily increased his cumulative grade.
However, that’s an entirely unfair way to grade a player. The developers should not be preemptively deciding what they want the overall grade to be and then rating each of the players’ attributes in such a way as to achieve that predetermined total. Rather, the better approach should be to grade each element of the player's overall performance individually and fairly, and then let the overall rating fall wherever it does.
Council IV is an explosive wing who can throw down dunks with the best of them, and his dunk grade should be at least 85. This rating is egregiously wrong.
