NBA 2K23 Top 5 Rookie Rating Predictions: Paolo Banchero, Jaden Ivey, Chet Holmgren & More

If you watched the NBA draft, you will know that there are a lot of players that are looking really good and looking like they're going to be great NBA players very soon. In NBA 2K23, they're gonna release all the brand new rookies and they're gonna give them ratings and this is always the hardest thing in the world to predict how good a player is going to be in the first day of the NBA given off of their draft choice. But in today's guide, we are going to be going over the top 5 rookie picks in the NBA draft and predict their ratings.

NBA 2K23 Top 5 Rookie Rating Predictions - List Of Top Rookies In NBA 2K23

Many new faces have signed rookie contracts and begun their journey to becoming the next superstar following the 2022 NBA Draft in the rearview mirror. Although it is still too early to predict how each player will fit into their respective team or how they will adapt to the game at the professional level. It’s never too early to predict their ranking in NBA 2K23. Obviously, there is a good chance that the following ratings will change during the 2022-23 NBA regular season. Especially since we haven’t even seen how these players will fit into their respective club’s rotation. However, here are our early predictions for the top 5 rookie ratings in NBA 2K23.

Top 1 - Paolo Banchero 81

The first rookie pick in the draft Paolo Banchero. Now the first pick in the draft has been very weird these past couple years, so last year it was Cade Cunningham, 80 overall. The year before that was Anthony Edwards at 77 overall. Then it was Zion Williamson who was at 81 and then Deandre Ayton who was at 79. Literally all over the place we have a player like Zion as an 81 overall and Anthony Edwards who's a 77 overall, two great players that had completely different expectations on day 1. And Paolo Banchero is going to be. They gave him an 81 overall rating because Zion n was going to be good in the NBA like period, there's no debate there's some players are either physical gifts or skill gifts and like curry's three-point shooting was a skill gift, Zion is a physical gift so he's going to be good. We think Paolo Banchero has an NBA ready body, he's definitely skilled and that he can score in isolation.

There is good reason that Paolo Banchero could be the highest rated rookie in NBA 2K23. He was an absolute stud at Duke and a five-star rookie in the Class of 2021. He is widely considered the most “NBA-ready” player in the draft and should have no problem adapting to the next level. 

Top 2 - Chet Holmgren 79

He was the second pick in the draft for the thunder, so using this little model that tug has given us of like players that have gifts are an 81 overall versus players that have potential like Anthony Edwards are 77. Chet Holmgren is interesting, he is expected to be very good, he's super skinny, but this guy is super tall and athletic for how tall he is and he's super long. So he's automatically assumed to be good. He's one of the most for sure players in this draft like he's probably going to be pretty decent. So to give him like a 79 overall is fair because he's expected to be great because of his immediate potential. Chet is the one that is the expected superstar one day. 

Top 3 - Jabari Smith 78

Jabari Smith is a great pickup because he's NBA ready super solid player, but he's gonna be a 78 overall. He's gonna match up really well on the rookies, he's gonna have good teammates around him and he's gonna be one of the highest rated players on the team that still gives him about a 78 overall and that's a fair rating. He's good, he's a pretty straightforward player .

Top 4 - Keegan Murray 79

He's exciting, he's the one playing the draft, you don't put the numbers, he put up in college on the efficiency, he put up as a fluke, the dude is athletic, the dude is NBA ready, he's long, a crazy official can shoot, he can literally do anything you want him to do as a big, it's really impressive. He's also going to have a 79 overall, Keegan’s actually got a good draft pick for onc, they did a good job in picking Keegan, he looks like he's going to be legit good NBA player. He may not have the upside that other players on this list do, but he should be able to make an impact right away. As a result, we suspect NBA 2K23 will be kind with their ratings towards Keegan Murray.

Top 5 - Jaden Ivey 78

NBA 2K ratings tend to lean heavily toward two-way players who are athletic enough to score and defend at an elite level, and that’s Jaden Ivey. He is probably either going to be a 77 or 78, that's because he's worse than the other players. When you pick a point guard in the draft that's athletic, they're almost always going to be good like almost always he's the first point guard pick in this draft. He's going to be good, there's very rare instances when it's just not the case and most of the times it isn't the case that you usually have like a big flaw. We don't see a big flaw with Jaden Ivey, he's good, he's going to impact the pistons immediately, he's going to start immediately, he has blistering speed and the ability to put pressure on the rim, making him a devastating force in transition, so giving him like a 78 to a 77 is fair. He’ll be a fascinating player to watch next season and should have one of NBA 2K23’s highest rookie ratings at launch.

So these are the predicted top 5 rookie players have the highest rating in this rookie class. Who do you think will be the highest rating player at the end of the season, who will be rookie of the year? Comment below if you think there are other top rookies that will be in NBA 2K23 released early in MyTeam.