With “NBA 2K25” set to release early next month, the basketball world is engaging in fun discourse about player and team ratings. Before the video game’s release each year, the debate about which players are ranked too high or low helps generate a ton of buzz on social media.
When former and current players jump in to share their opinions, it often creates a firestorm of bold takes. The top-rated player in this year’s title is Nikola Jokic at a 97, and while many agree that the three-time MVP should be at the top, the rest of the top 10 gets fans’ emotions running wild.
Snubbed from the top 10?
On a recent episode of “Gil’s Arena,” the guys discussed the best players in NBA 2K25, who deserved a higher rating, and who was rated too low.
While some on the show took issue with reigning NBA champion and Finals MVP Jaylen Brown being omitted from the top 10, former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas thought the ranking was fair. His explanation? Let’s just hope the entire Boston Celtics faithful doesn’t come crashing down on him.
“He [Brown] is not the No. 1 option on his team,” Arenas says. “He sits in the corner; they double [Jayson] Tatum. Pass, pass, [Boston] goes through Jrue [Holiday]… He does not get doubled. He does not demand the double [team]. … He’s not in this realm [of the top 10 players in NBA 2K25].”
Doubling down on hot takes
Brown, who will turn 28 at the start of the 2024 season, has steadily climbed in recent years. From averaging fewer than seven points per game as a rookie in 2016 to securing his first All-NBA nod six years later, No. 7 has helped power Boston back to its rightful place as a perennial title contender.
Despite being his team’s cornerstone, the All-Star has been on a hot seat, which is expected for an elite player in a large market, let alone for the 18-time world champions. The swingman has been compared to numerous players over his career, even his teammate, Jayson Tatum, with debates about who the better player is between the two during the Celtics’ championship run last spring, engulfing storylines.
The green and white have challengers in the Eastern Conference, namely the New York Knicks, who stacked the deck this summer by acquiring elite two-way threat Mikal Bridges. Under the stewardship of Jalen Brunson, who is one of the rapidly ascending players in the NBA, the Knicks are coming. And for that reason, Arenas can’t overlook the “dominant” Knicks guard.
“Is Brunson and Brown on the same level as a basketball player in the NBA?” asks the quarreling Arenas, advocating for Brunson over Brown. “Who is more dominant as a basketball player? Are they even in the same tier?”
Add this to the hall of unapologetic Gilbert Arenas takes — a quote that will only intensify the bitterness between Boston and New York fans next season.
