Reacting to Kawhi Leonard's criminally low NBA 2K25 rating

While the 2024-25 NBA season is drawing closer, we are still a ways removed from the LA Clippers' first preseason game set to tip off in October. It is usually around this time of year that fans can begin to look forward to things like team training camp and media day, but even those things are still more than a month away.

One of the most relevant topics in the news cycle all around the NBA world this week is the release of the brand new ratings for the NBA 2K25 video game. Each year, the game's developers research every team in the association and update their game with, in theory, more accurate player ratings to boost the overall experience and make the game as realistic as possible.

However, after the reveal of the new ratings for the Clippers players, there seems to have been a crucial mistake made. Kawhi Leonard was given just a 92 overall rating for 2K25, two points lower than his rating in 2K24.

Kawhi is rated just a 92 overall in 2K25

If we look at the history of Kawhi's 2K ratings, the upcoming game will mark the lowest rating for the Clippers star since NBA 2K16, when he was an 87 overall. If we look at Kawhi's recent body of work, there is simply no way he should have been given this kind of a rating.

The 92 overall rating comes after a season where Leonard made All-NBA second team and played in 68 games. It was the most regular season games he has competed in since the 2016-17 season where he finished top three in MVP voting.

Yes, Kawhi had an unfortunate run of injury luck to end the regular season and missed four of the Clippers' six playoff games, but that does not completely erase how consistently good he was for LA in the regular season. Docking him two points for the kind of season he had does not begin to make any sense.

Keeping Leonard at a 94 or even bumping him up a point would have felt much more appropriate. With this new number attributed to his name, Kawhi's 2K rating has now either stayed the same or fallen in every version of the game since NBA 2K20. He will truly have to make a statement in the upcoming season to get some respect from the game developers going forward.