The Boston Celtics enter NBA 2K26 in a peculiar position. After winning the 2024 NBA title, they have spent the last two offseasons moving talent in what feels like a garage sale, driven almost entirely by the punitive layers of the new CBA. Kristaps Porziņģis is gone. Jrue Holiday is gone. Jayson Tatum is expected to miss the majority of the season as he recovers from injury. And yet, 2K26’s player ratings still feel out of touch with the actual trajectory of this roster.
Boston remains a playoff contender thanks to Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, but the video game has significantly misjudged how this roster stacks up. Some players are clearly overrated, while others aren’t getting the respect they deserve. Here’s why the Celtics’ 2K26 ratings are flat-out wrong.
Jayson Tatum (94 OVR): Overrated in context
There’s no question Jayson Tatum is an elite player. A 94 overall rating is reasonable in a vacuum; he’s a perennial All-NBA forward with two-way impact. But here’s the problem: Tatum is recovering from injury and will miss most of the season.
Jayson Tatum is the 8th highest rated player in #NBA2K26 at 94 OVR!🍀@jaytatum0 | #NBA2KTop100 pic.twitter.com/HxUCXuD0ud
— NBA 2K (@NBA2K) August 21, 2025
In 2K, his availability doesn’t really get reflected in the overall number, but it should. A player who won’t see the floor for 60+ games should not anchor a roster with a near-95 OVR. For a team built around Tatum, his absence makes them dramatically weaker than his individual number suggests. The Celtics may be without their franchise cornerstone for nearly the entire year, yet the 2K ratings present them as if nothing has changed.
Derrick White (87 OVR): Underrated leader of the team
Boston’s most reliable two-way guard is still being slept on. Derrick White was arguably the Celtics’ second-best player last season, proving himself as an elite defender, clutch shot-maker, and underrated playmaker. His impact metrics were consistently among the best in the NBA, and he filled in gaps whenever stars struggled.
Here are the Celtics ranked in the top 100 of the official NBA 2K26 ratings:
Jayson Tatum: 94
Jaylen Brown: 90
Derrick White: 87
Anfernee Simons: 81Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/s8NsRGFrwl
— SleeperCeltics (@SleeperCeltics) August 21, 2025
An 87 OVR rating sells him short. White deserves to be in the low 90s at this point, especially with Tatum out and Holiday no longer on the roster. He is the glue of this team, and in 2K26, he’s treated like a role player instead of the new leader.
Jaylen Brown (90 OVR): Fair but lacking context
At 90 OVR, Jaylen Brown’s rating isn’t egregiously wrong, but it lacks proper context. Brown will carry the offensive load this season, with Tatum sidelined and Simons being more of a spark-plug scorer than a primary creator.
Brown’s finishing and defense are elite, but his rating fails to account for his expanded responsibility. In real life, he is about to attempt the most important season of his career, tasked with holding Boston’s playoff aspirations together. 2K doesn’t reflect that with enough boost to his playmaking or shot-creation numbers, keeping him stuck in the same archetype he’s had for years.
Anfernee Simons (81 OVR): Overrated as a fit
Simons is a walking bucket; his rating as an 81 OVR is accurate when considering raw scoring. But in the context of Boston’s roster, it feels inflated. Simons doesn’t provide the defense, size, or secondary playmaking this team desperately needs after losing Holiday and Porziņģis.
He’s a high-efficiency scorer in isolation and pick-and-roll sets, but on a Celtics team already loaded with wings, his value doesn’t match the number. An 81 rating suggests he’s a borderline starter on a contender, when in reality, he’s a flawed fit in Boston’s system.
Sam Hauser (78 OVR): Underrated sharpshooter
This is where 2K really misses the mark. Sam Hauser is one of the best volume three-point shooters in the NBA, hitting 41% from deep last season on high attempts. Yet, he sits at a 78 OVR with a middling archetype.
In today’s NBA, elite shooters have an enormous impact. Players like Duncan Robinson and Kevin Huerter consistently rate in the low 80s, yet Hauser lags despite superior shooting percentages. On a Celtics team desperate for spacing after losing two stars, Hauser should be closer to an 82-83 OVR.
Neemias Queta (76 OVR): Overrated role player
Queta had a nice run as a physical big man who could rebound and protect the paint in limited minutes, but a 76 OVR inflates his value. He’s a third-string center on most rosters and has yet to prove he can handle 20+ minutes per night against starting-caliber bigs.
Meanwhile, Chris Boucher, a proven stretch big with playoff experience, is only rated a 79. That’s an imbalance that doesn’t make sense. Queta being rated nearly on par with Boucher or Hauser is one of the most glaring rating mistakes here.
Baylor Scheierman (71 OVR): Underrated rookie potential
The Celtics’ late addition from Creighton was one of the most polished rookies in the 2024 draft class, with size, shooting, and secondary playmaking. Yet he enters 2K26 as a 71 OVR afterthought.
For a 6-foot-7 shooter who can handle the ball and rebound, that rating undersells his NBA-readiness. Scheierman projects as a rotation player immediately, and with Boston’s roster thin, he should have been slotted closer to the 74-75 range to reflect his actual upside.
Where did the 2K26 get the Celtics wrong?
The Celtics’ 2K26 ratings paint the wrong picture of a franchise in transition. Boston is no longer the same juggernaut that dominated the East two years ago. The roster has been stripped down under the new CBA, Tatum will miss most of the season, and players like White and Hauser are suddenly carrying far greater importance than the game recognizes.
If anything, 2K has held onto the perception of Boston’s dynasty run while ignoring the messy reality. Until the ratings reflect the new pecking order, Celtics fans will be playing with a team that looks better on screen than it will in real life.
