The state of the NBA has changed drastically throughout the years. Players and coaches were adjusted when the league added the three-point line, referees started clamping down on foul calls, and jump shooting became the focus instead of battling down in the post. Since 1999, NBA 2K has reigned supreme in the virtual world, and rightfull🍌y so.
Because NBA 2K includes historic teams, each player featured on this list has the same number of appearances in the long-running s𝐆eries: 22. To provide some form of organization, we’vꦓe ranked the players based on when their active playing careers ended, but again, they continued to be featured in NBA 2K on historic teams.
10 ꦫ ♚ Shaquille O’Neal
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Shaq. The Big Cactus. Diesel. The Big Aristotle. Shaquille O’Neal has gone by quite a few different names, but regardless of what people called him, he was a destructive force on the court. Drafted by the Orlando Magic, O’Neal quickly ascended to greatness by becoming the second rookie since Michael Jorda𝓰n to be voted as an All-Star starter. O’Neal led the Magic to the NBA Finals in his third season but fell short to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets.
There are many iterations of O’Neal in NBA 2K’s historic teams, as he played on championship-winning teams in Orlando, Los Angeles, and Miami. Shaq proved to be most dominant during his time with the Lakers, never averaging less than 26 points per game and winning three straight NBA championships from 🍰2000 to 2002. O’Neal also appeared on the cover of NBA 2K6 and 2K7 as a member of the Heat, and on NBA 2K18 Legend Edition as a member of the Lakers.
9 Ray Allen
One of the most prolific three-point shooters in NBA history, Ray Allen has altered the history of the league more than once. In 2007, the Boston Celtics acquired Allen in a trade with the then-Seattle Supersonics𝓰 and then followed up with the huge acquisition of Kജevin Garnett. Creating a new superstar trio of Paul Pierce, Garnett, and Allen, the Boston Celtics started a new era of superteams in the NBA.
Allen proved to be quite a factor for the Celtics, as Boston went on to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. But attitudes qꦆuickly soured in 2012, when Allen decided to take his talents to South Beach and the rival Miami Heat. Allen hit one of the biggest shots i🐼n NBA Finals history in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. If Allen missed that shot, the Heat superteam would’ve had two Finals losses in three years, signaling the team as a potential failure in the history books.
8 Steve Nash 🥂
Regarded as one of the best point guards to ever play the game, Steve Nash can als🍎o be surprisingly underrated. In the mid-to-late 2000s, Nash spearheaded the Mike D’Antoni “Seven Seconds Or Less” offense for the Phoenix Suns. D’Antoni and Nash revolutionized how the NBA operated on offense, but unfortunately, the duo wasn’t able to break through to the Finals.
After falling short of reaching the promised land in 2010, the Suns entered full-on🌞 rebuild mode and traded its star point guard to the Los Angeles Lakers. Nash hoped that teaming up with Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, the ൩Lakers would have the necessary firepower to get him that elusive championship ring, but nagging back injuries greatly impacted his performance and led to his retirement. Currently, Nash is the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets.
7 𒆙 Kevin Garne💖tt
Otherwise known as the Big Ticket, Kevin Garnett made a naဣme for himself with his suffocating defense on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Garnett envisioned himself delivering a championship to Minnesota, but fate is a fickle one. Paul Pierce convinced Garnett to join him and Ray Allen in Boston, and the trio essentially jumpstarted the modern era of superteams in the NBA.
Garnett’s supreme play in his first season with the Celtics💙 en route to a championship was enough to land the Big Ticket on the cover of NBA 2K9. The Celtics would return to the Finals again in 2010 but fell to the Los Angeles Lakers. After Allen left Boston for the Miami Heat in 2012, the Celtics decided to ship Garnett and Pierce to the Brooklyn Nets, putting an end to its superteam.
6 Tim ꦅDuncan
Few players in any sport spend their entire careers with one team. It’s a remarkable achievement that some players strive for, indicating how loyal they are to the team and city, but also a representation of how competitive they make them. Tim Duncan achieved such an accomplisඣhment with the San Antonio Spurs.
After seven straight playoff appearances, the Spurs uncharacteristically lost 62 games, which led them to miraculously winning the NBA dra🐟ft lottery and securing Duncan with the top pick. San Antonio paired Duncan with fellow All-Star big man David Robinson, and later, added the likes of Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, creating one of the most dominant teams in history. Duncan won the NBA Finals in his rookie season and ended his career with five championships.
5 Kobe Bryant ⛎
For as many Hall of Fame players that the Los Angeles Lakers have deployed throughout its history, there might not be a more popular one than Kobe Bryant. Originally drafted by the then-Charlotte Hornets, Bryant was traded on draft night to the Lakers right out of high school. The Lakers, arguably, completed the greatest offseason in NBA history by acquiring Bryant from the Hornets and then signing Shaquille O’Neal in free agency. Bryant and O’Neal went on to win three straight championships, but a rift f⛎ractured the relationship between the two players and the Lakers chose to build around Bryant.
After trading O’Neal, the Lakers fell into mediocrity. Wh𒁃ile the team still consistently made the playoffs in the mid-2000s, they weren’t near a championship-level team. In 2007, Bryant reportedly requested to be , though talks ultimately fell apart. Los Angeles was able to rebuild the team, however, and Bryant added two more rings to his collection in 2009 and 2010. Bryant is one of the few players to have appeared on multiple covers (2K10, 2K17, 2K21), though sadly, his Mamba Forever Edition of NBA 2K21 was in remembrance of the .
4 🗹 Paul Pierce
Paul Pierce’s career with the Boston Celtics was anything but smooth sailing. Drafted in 1989, the Celtics made the playoffs in the first five years of his career but rapidly fell toward t൩he bottom of the league standings for much of the 1990s. It wasn’t unti🐬l Boston acquired Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen that Pierce finally broke through and won his first and only NBA championship in 2007.
Unfortunately for Pierce, the Celtics did not last very long in the limelight, as the team fell from grace in 2012 with a first-ඣround playoff exit. It was the first time the Celtics were eliminated in the first round since 2004 and that signaled a changing of the guard. Pierce and Garnett were traded to the Brooklyn Nets, then Pierce had a one-year stint with the Washington Wizards and then two quiet years with the Los Angeles Clippers.
3 Dirk Nowitzki ♓
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While winning a championship is certainly the ultimate goal, not all championships are valued equally. Some teams or players get less credit due to various circumstances, while in other cases like Dirk Nowitzki, championships contain more weight. After failing to win the NBA Finals in 🔥2006 against Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal of the Miami Heat, Nowitzki got his revenge in 2011.
Facing off against the brand-new superteam in South Beach, Nowitzki led the Dallas Mavericks to its first championship in franchise history. Labeled as huge underdogs to LeBron James♛, Chris Bosh, and Wade, Nowitzki secured h𒁃is first ring and embarrassed the Heat on the national stage. Analysts and fans alike argue that Nowitzki’s championship against the Heat is one of the most difficult NBA championships ever won. Nowitzki alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kevin Durant.
2 ♐ Vince ꧋Carter
Although Vince Carter never won an NBA championship nor appeared in an NBA Finals, he does hold another title: longevity. Carter is the only player in NBA history to in a career. Drafted in 1998 by the Toronto Raptors, Carter played on e🐻ight different teams before retiring in 2020.
Carter’s early game in Toronto revolved around his supreme athleticism and highꦉ-flying dunks. Carter’s career is , like his devastating slam over Frederic Weis in the 2000 Olympics and his entire forearm going through the basket during the Slam Dunk Contest. Vinsanity changed how fans and players valued dunks, leaving his mark on the NBA forever.
1 𝔉 Allen Iverson 𝓡
The first athlete to appear on not just the first NBA 2K, but the first three of the series, Allen Iverson claims the top spot. Drafted in 1996, Iverson led the Philadelphia 76ers to t𝄹he NBA Finals in 2000 but fell to Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Although Iverson failed to cash in his only NBA Finals appearance, his remains one of the greatest images in Finals history.
As a four-time scoring champion, Iverson is regarded as one of the deadliest offensive players in NBA history. He’s also led the league in steals in three seasons and won an MVP award in 2000. Because of his numerous personal accolades, Iverson was elected to the Naism🐷ith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
