NBA 2K began slowly releasing its top 100 players in the upcoming edition of the popular video game, NBA 2K25, on Monday.
While top Duke names like [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] and [autotag]Zion Williamson[/autotag] need to wait to find out where they fit in the NBA hierarchy, one former Blue Devil got some great news in the first round of the release.
Dereck Lively II, the center who just finished his rookie season with the Dallas Mavericks, came in as the 98th-best player in the game with an 81 overall rating.
Lively went to the NBA Finals in his debut season, putting up four double-doubles over the course of Dallas’s playoff run. He earned national praise for his performance in the second round, getting a shoutout from the dictionary as the Mavericks unseated the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
The seven-footer averaged 8.8 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game as a rookie, making the starting lineup 42 times in the regular season.
🗣️ The #NBA2KTop100 starts NOW!
Drop your takes on this first group of #NBA2K25 ratings ✍️ pic.twitter.com/0sIWbLXdHt
— NBA 2K (@NBA2K) August 19, 2024
RJ Barrett, another former Blue Devil who just reached the Olympic quarterfinals with the Canadian national team, also earned an 81 overall rating, finishing 86th on the ranking.