The release of NBA 2K26 is just around the corner, with fans ready to experience the new installment in the popular basketball video game. It also means the face of NBA 2K social media, Ronnie 2K, finds himself a heck of a lot busier.
This year's edition will feature Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chicago Sky center Angel Reese, and soon to be Hall-of-Famer Carmelo Anthony as cover athletes.
NBA 2K hosted Community Day in San Francisco last week, inviting creators and media members to test the game out early and provide early feedback. Ronnie Singh, known as Ronnie 2K in the gaming community, was among those that attended, taking time to catch up with creators, conduct interview sessions with media, and preparing social media content for the upcoming launch.
“I'm great and I'm excited,” Ronnie 2K told ClutchPoints in an exclusive interview. “2K26 is here. We have 70 plus content creators [at Community Day]. They're so stoked and into the game. You know how I know that? They're very quiet because they're locked in and they're playing. That's all I need to know. The buzz about it's been great and I'm looking forward to our last couple features getting out there and another launch under under our belt.”
Early access to the game was made available on Friday morning, with the official release of the game scheduled for next Friday on September 5th. Fans have already started to play and check out their favorite players' NBA 2K ratings.
Ronnie 2K spoke with ClutchPoints about NBA 2K26 and some of the ratings that had fans up in arms over the last few weeks.
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Tomer Azarly: Thanks for taking the time Ronnie. Before we get into ratings, what are some of the things you're excited for so far that you can share?
Ronnie 2K: So for me, it's three things that stick to my head before we get into MyCareer and The City. Number one is the gameplay. I mean there are so many improvements that like have been pieced together that have made like a huge leap in terms of the gameplay. Like the the game speed is up, the way you dribble, the way you catch-and-shoot, the way you play up against the post. And I know all of them by themselves will probably feel small, but them as in an aggregate is hugely amazing to what the game like comes together as. That's gameplay. I mean our game has been top of the industry for years and that kind of emphasis on making it better. It's just remarkable what Mike [Wang] and the team do there.
Number two is like the lighting and the shading. It looks visually better, which is kind of crazy because we haven't jumped consoles. But like, I don't know if you feel the same way, but it dramatically it looks visually better which is remarkable.
And then the third thing is, you know, all the new things coming to my team I'm really excited about being able to play women with men and being able to put Stephen [Curry] and Caitlin [Clark] in the same back court and put Shaq [O'Neal] and Angel [Reese] in the front court. Like it's pretty remarkable. So looking forward to seeing what teams put together and constructing a five person MyTeam.
Tomer Azarly: So give us a bit of a behind the scenes look if you can. What's the rating system like? How do you guys go about putting together ratings?
Ronnie 2K: Yeah, there's 30 some-odd mini ratings and mini attributes that get cooked into a formula, and it's based purely on performance on the court. In some cases, it's based on, like the young guys, right? We don't have a ton of sample information of them playing against other NBA people. So their's can kind of dramatically increase or decrease based on performance as you would expect and then the people that have been in the league for 10 or 15 years. It's a little bit more sticky, right? Like they're rating is kind of what you would expect.
LeBron and Steph. I think they're both down one point from last year. People like Giannis and Jokic have stayed about the same. You would expect that, but like somebody like Cade Cunningham, whose in year three or four and missed a good chunk of the early parts in his career just jumped up six points. [Victor Wembanyama] hen we jumped up six points, so there's a lot of people that are going to grow. But it's a tremendous amount of effort from the Visual Concepts team, a lot of thought that goes into it. Both those mini attributes with the game film and the formula that turns it into this one number. This one number which creates a lot of issues for me (jokingly).
Tomer Azarly: We joked about it beforehand, but how many people are on the team that choose and put together ratings?
Ronnie 2K: There are several people on the ratings team headed up by Michael Stauffer, who does a great job. And they think all things ratings. They don't really have a lot of other stuff to work on because it's that big for us. I mean, they definitely think about how that rating contributes to various aspects of our game, not just obviously quick game, right? Like you have to think about MyTeam, you have to think about other [game modes], so that's sort of how that operates. But yeah, somewhere along the line, and I don't know how I agreed to do this, but somewhere along the line I became the the person that people get mad at. So, you know, it's fun.
Tomer Azarly: I was gonna say, was one of the factors in ratings, “quality of life,” for you?
Ronnie 2K: I guess that got thrown out, my quality of life. No, I'm just kidding. It's been great. Like what an amazing thing to represent, this company and its development and growth over — in my case — 18 years, but we've been doing this 27 now so it's pretty remarkable how far this game has come and that people even care about the this one number.
Tomer Azarly: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Alexander massive year with an NBA MVP, a championship, a Finals MVP. What went into him being the cover athlete and how does he align with what you guys wanted to represent?
Ronnie 2K: Well, wait. When you and I spoke last year, didn't we talk about Shai and I was like, ‘he's probably on the short list of potential cover athletes?” We obviously didn't know if it would happen this quick, but I think it was last year in one of our conversations. I'm just a big believer in him and he's a big fan of our game. A lot of his values align with what we are trying to do with music and fashion and obviously basketball. So a lot of it just kind of worked together, but it all starts with performance on the court and obviously what a phenomenal year and he did it with class and dignity. It's pretty remarkable what he did in the past 12 months.
Tomer Azarly: So he starts with the 98 overall in NBA 2K26, but he's ranked No. 2 behind Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. How do you kind of explain why he's second on that despite being 98?
Ronnie 2K: That's a great question. So those many attributes, it's not 98 is the number we give you. 98 visually like there's a decimal point to that right? Don't ask me because I don't actually know the difference between them, but I'm sure it's pretty infinitesimal, but yeah [Nikola] Jokic edged Shai even though obviously Shai's coming off the MVP year and the NBA Championship. I think part of that in my opinion — and this isn't based on actual statistics or anything — is the longevity of it. Like that's something that Jokic has working for him. He's a multi-year MVP, he could have easily been the MVP last year as well. I think there's an argument to be made that that is the right call. We didn't actually get a lot of flack about it. I think everybody was like, “Oh yeah that makes sense.” I bet you even Shai would totally understand it. Maybe I'll ask him next week when I see him next week.
Tomer Azarly: Nikola Jokic obviously secured the top spot among players in ratings to start NBA 2K26. He's shown the longevity and he doesn't seem to be slowing down.
Ronnie 2K: He doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. I mean he is a prototypical big guy and he does it while looking like he barely cares about the game but he's remarkable. I mean the numbers he puts up, game-in, game-out, plays every game, stays healthy. I mean that's underrated in his game. He carries that franchise, he's everything you'd want in a star. He puts up triple-doubles all the time, he does everything, he doesn't turn it over very much. Like all of that is why I think it was hard to knock him off his perch, but Shai got real close and we got a whole season to play so let's see what happens.
Tomer Azarly: How tough is a guy like Victor Wembanyama to rate in the game? I mean starts this game as a 94 overall but make a case he could finish the year by as a 99 overall.
Ronnie 2K: Well, you can also make a case he could finish as an 85 overall. Like, it's crazy. That range is because he's the opposite, right? Like he's got such little sample size, he missed three months last year at the end of the year, but his potential is off the charts and when he's on the court, he is unbelievable. I mean, he's totally unstoppable, unguardable, and he's so young, he could go up. I definitely think there's a case that he he could be our first 99 in a while, assuming one of those other guys don't get there.
I guess our only 99's outside of Michael Jordan was Stephen Curry got there that one year with NBA 2K16 when he was the unanimous MVP and hit 402 three-pointers. That will be hard to duplicate but I mean Wemby is carving out his own thing and it's gonna be pretty remarkable to watch him play and watch him chase that 99. I'm sure it's important to him.
Tomer Azarly: The the most controversial ratings list I've seen so far is the mid-range jumpers list. That one, a lot of people seemed to react to it with Nikola Jokic being number one, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander technically being ranked fifth and then Kawhi Leonard not being ranked anywhere in that top ten.
Ronnie 2K: Yeah, let me talk about that. I think a lot of people see things in terms of volume or feel and both of those are wrong. What it really is based off of is per-36 or whatever metric that we have that's based on how often they're shooting it and how successful they are shooting it. I saw this example: I think if you look at the three-point list, it's actually even more relevant. You have Isaiah Joe, who's not even a starter on the Thunder, gets about 20 minutes and I think he's 5th on that list or something like that. You're like why and it's because his per-36 numbers are behind only Stephen Curry percentage-wise and in terms of volume, he shoots I think he makes like five every 36 minutes or something like that uh so yeah a lot of it's based on on per-36 as opposed to like pure volume.
