Josh Hart headlines 3 Knicks NBA 2K27 player ratings that will definitely need major update this season

The New York Knicks are on top of the NBA world heading into the 2026-27 season. They broke through and snapped a 53-year title drought, with Jalen Brunson leading the way for the Knicks in his signature composed fashion. New York fell by double digits in all five of their NBA Finals games, and yet they managed to come back from huge deficits four different times en route to claiming the Larry O’Brien trophy.

In NBA 2K26, the strides the Knicks made as a team were reflected in the ratings boost a few of their players received. Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns were rated above 90-overall, at 94 and 91, respectively. OG Anunoby received one of the biggest boosts in the game, reaching an 88-overall after starting out the game cycle at an 85.

One would think that the Knicks would get even more love from 2K in NBA 2K27 after becoming world champions. And they most certainly did.

Brunson is entering the newly-released game as an 96 overall, putting him just one overall rating behind the top three best players in the game in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, and Victor Wembanyama. Towns also received a boost, getting a +2 after showing out in the grand NBA Finals stage.

But the rest of the Knicks team didn’t get upgraded. Anunoby stayed at 88, while other members of the supporting cast such as Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart had their ratings stay the same. Now, NBA 2K27 appears to have made a concerted effort to lower the overall ratings of players throughout the association across the board, so for them to retain their ratings is a good sign.

Nonetheless, these Knicks players should get more love from 2K this year, starting with Hart — the quintessential winning player.

Josh Hart (82 overall)

A rating of 82 seems to be very healthy for Hart, someone who didn’t find his footing on this Knicks team until the middle of the season when head coach Mike Brown decided to not reinvent the wheel and just roll with him in the starting lineup.

Hart put up worse numbers than he did during the 2024-25 campaign, but that was mostly because of his fluctuating role and due to New York’s decision to not give him the workload he had under Tom Thibodeau.

However, this season, Hart will be the undisputed starter at the four. The Knicks also don’t have the best depth at the forward spots, with most of their quality on the bench being in the backcourt (Miles McBride, Landry Shamet, Jose Alvarado, Jordan Clarkson). Suffice to say, Hart’s rebounding and ability to do the dirty work has become all the more invaluable for this Knicks side.

It’s also high time for elite-level role players to get even more love from NBA 2K. It seems to be a trend for NBA 2K to reward glitz and glamour and huge box-score production, if their decision to give Deni Avdija an 88-overall or the likes of Paolo Banchero and Trae Young an 87-overall.

Elite teams need players like Hart to function well. And while giving those role players a higher-rating than they deserve could make everything get out of hand, especially in play now online, it could be a good precedent moving forward to reward the more underrated aspects of basketball that contribute to winning in a big way.

It was mind-boggling that, for so long, players like PJ Tucker or Dorian Finney-Smith or Danny Green, all of whom played crucial minutes deep in the playoffs for teams that were in contention, were saddled with poor overall ratings relative to their importance to the team.

Sure, they were not self-sufficient enough on offense. Giving them their own team and having them be the number one scoring option means that a team is contending for the top pick in the draft, not a championship. But there are so many dimensions to what makes a basketball player and a basketball team successful, and the most prominent basketball video game franchise should take that into account more accurately.

Giving Hart an 82-overall is a good step in the right direction. But 2K can do better and give him an 84 or 85, especially as the Knicks keep their place atop the Eastern Conference.

Landry Shamet (77 overall)

The Knicks had a tough decision to make earlier this offseason. They had to pick one to keep in free agency between Shamet and Mitchell Robinson, and in the end, Robinson proved to be far too expensive for them to re-sign. Thus, it was Shamet who stayed in the Big Apple.

Shamet had a crazy rise last season. It wasn’t even a guarantee that he would make it to the Knicks’ final roster, but Malcolm Brogdon’s retirement paved the way for him and he grabbed the opportunity by the scruff of its neck. He ended up being a key rotation piece for the Knicks all playoffs long.

He shot nearly 48 percent from deep in the playoffs, and he proved himself to be a pesky defender on the perimeter. It feels like getting key minutes in the NBA Finals has to mean that a player has to be rated above 77 overall, but NBA 2K’s hesitation to give him a higher rating is understandable considering his lack of long track record of contributing at the highest level.

But now that Shamet has established himself as one of the Knicks’ best players off the bench, and considering the spotlight New York has in its title-defense season, it should only be a matter of time before he reaches the 80-overall mark, so long as he continues to be consistent with his three-ball and his defense.

Mo Diawara (72 overall)

Diawara certainly got more minutes than many expected he’d get after being drafted 51st overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. He played 69 games and even started seven, averaging 3.6 points in the regular season.

The Knicks re-signed him earlier this offseason, and as a forward who stands at 6-foot-9, he should get a chance at establishing a rotation role for himself. Only 21 years of age, Diawara has a ton of potential as a switchable forward with some shot-creation juice off the bounce, and the Knicks can give him an opportunity to spread his wings. When he does, he is certainly more deserving of a rating along the 75 or 76 mark.