The mid-range ratings were just released by NBA 2K26, and gamers seem not to be having a hearty lunch. The official 2K Twitter account had tweeted the top mid-range bucket-getters with the caption, “Money with the middies 🤑,” and then came the fighting all-out in the comment section, much faster than a fastbreak dunk.
For starters, this very list has some… odd choices. We see Nikola Jokic at the top (alright, I’ll allow it), Kevin Durant (obviously), but is another name like Miles McBride of the Knicks being ranked higher than the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kawhi Leonard, and DeMar DeRozan really… A capsule of drama erupted from that.
At this point, the gamers flooded the comment section with hotter-than-a-Steph-Curry-three-pointer-in-the-fourth takes. One player, @SGAISTHEGOAT, literally said, “Lmao who does these ratings😂Shai mid range should be the highest,” which basically is…a fact? Shai has been cooking defenders with his mid-range game all season, so seeing him not at the top had people scratching their heads harder than a rookie trying to guard Kyrie.
Speaking of Kyrie, the Irving vs. Shai debate got going too. @RealBallKnower1 asked, “Kyrie irving is better than Shai at everything that involves basketball?” to which @EasymoneyVann responded, “He’s better at everything that involves a basketball.” Oof. Talk about throwing shade. Meanwhile, @AskPerplexity threw down some analytics on the Shai vs. Jokic mid-range game like it was some advanced stats Twitter thread.
The question is how in the world did Miles McBride even make the list? Several gamers expressed their outrage over a Knicks bench player being ranked higher than starters and All-Stars. @thatt4real stated, “nigga got mcbride over brunson i’m done w 2k,” which is honestly the feeling shared by a lot of us. @kingbvll perfectly summed things up with “No Kawhi? But McBride in there? 2k got it” like…what are we even doing here?
The international community joined in as well. @DogboRichard1 responded in French, “Pour moi cette saison c’est vraiment shai le plus chaud,””For me this season it’s really Shai who’s the hottest,” followed by “Ils doivent pas regarder les mêmes matchs que nous je pense 🤣🤣,” translating to “I think they must not be watching the same games as us.” Facts don’t lie.
Some gamers were Clue-hunting for conspiracy theories. @n4wah tweeted, “2K is doing the Nikola Jokic Agenda omfg bruh…” while others such as @helpsideDee continued with “We know yall do ts on purpose but now it just makes yall look stupid now.” This was disrespect to the mid-range kings, too much to bear for some, as @IKJETLGGD simply added, “This shit is just appalling ðŸ˜,” which…mood.
And the crazy part is that this is just with the mid-range ratings. Imagine the Internet literally cracking if they don’t put Steph at number one with the three-point ratings. For now, gamers still wonder who in 2K HQ is making these calls and questioning whether they even watched basketball this year.
Shockingly, one thing for sure is that with all of this, when the game drops, everybody’s going to be testing these mid-range ratings to see if they really do play the way the numbers suggest they should. And, man, if McBride is really dinging more middies than Kawhi? Some patch notes need to be dropped pronto.
Ratings are always a big discussion, but this one hit differently. Maybe because midrange has become such a lost art in the NBA today that seeing it basically mocked like this in a game just does not sit well with some. Or maybe 2K just enjoys the gamer rage flooding Twitter as a result. But anyway, the debates are totally entertaining even if the ratings aren’t.
