NBA 2K26’s cold, hard stance on Jamal Murray is absolutely ridiculous

Over the past few days, overall player ratings for the popular NBA 2K26 video game have been coming out, and the Nuggets’ second-best player, Jamal Murray, is an 86 overall, the 44th-best player in the game.

The overall ratings are all relative and based on context, but for some perspective, other players with an 86 rating include Julius Randle, Franz Wagner, Tyrese Maxey, and Tyler Herro. Murray has accomplished more than any of those players and done it on the highest level.

On top of that, he’s still in his prime at age 28 and should be ready to have one of the best years of his career. Sure, he’s had some injury issues over the years, but it doesn’t seem like that’s a major factor in these rankings, as players like Zion Williamson, Damian Lillard, and LaMelo Ball are all comfortably ahead of Murray.

2K rankings seem extremely inconsistent

Nobody is arguing that Murray should be in the top 10 or 20, but for him to be this low seems ridiculous. The frustrating part is that there’s no consistency in how the rankings are calculated from player to player.

Guys like Jimmy Butler and Joel Embiid seem to get the benefit of the doubt, being ranked based on their ceiling, even though they rarely seem to reach it. Murray doesn’t get the same benefit of the doubt, despite proving himself in the playoffs time and again.

A lot of young, exciting player also seem to be ranked as much based on their potential as on what they’ve actually proven on an NBA court. Guys like Amen Thompson, Chet Holmgren, and Aleperen Sengun are all ahead of Murray, despite never reaching the heights of Jamal.

More motivation for hungry Nuggets

These rankings are just one more way the Nuggets have been disrespected this offseason. It still feels like the general public isn’t buying in, with this just being the latest example. Beyond Murray, the next Nugget is Cam Johnson at 63rd overall, then Aaron Gordon at 71st overall.

That’s it for Nuggets in the top 100, meaning Christian Braun and the entire bench didn’t even make the list. For years, it has felt like Nikola Jokic has had to do it all alone. That’s not the case anymore, but the powers that be at NBA 2K don’t seem to have noticed.

Hopefully, this is just more fuel to the fire and motivates this Nuggets team to come out on a mission. These ratings mean nothing at the end of the day; it’s all about hanging another banner in Ball Arena.