NBA 2K Final Ratings Update Boosts Rookies, Adjusts LaMelo to 88

The final NBA 2K26 regular-season ratings update landed on April 9, and the move that immediately cut through the noise was LaMelo Ball getting bumped from 87 overall to 88 overall — a one-point nudge that carries more weight in Play Now Online than it looks on paper.

Ball runs a Table Setter build on NBA 2K26, anchored by a 93 Pass Accuracy rating, with 15 badges and three at Gold level. At 88 OVR, he now sits clear of a congested cluster of 87-rated guards, which directly affects matchup logic and defensive assignments in ranked Play Now Online. His 80 Three-Point Shot rating makes him a credible threat from range on top of that elite playmaking foundation, and the combined package at 88 becomes genuinely difficult to scheme around in half-court sets.

The rookie class saw the other major movement. Cooper Flagg led the 2025 rookie class at launch with an 82 overall, with Dylan Harper just behind at 78 overall and Ace Bailey at 77. It has been a volatile year for those three in the ratings cycle. Flagg was upgraded to 81 OVR in the game's third ratings update after a strong 35-point performance against the Los Angeles Clippers, recovering ground he had lost earlier in the season. Ace Bailey drew a reality-check drop earlier, sliding to 73 OVR after a slow stretch with Utah. This final update brought several of those rookies back toward their ceiling numbers as the season's complete body of work settled their ratings into place.

Charlotte's Kon Knueppel has been one of the quieter success stories of the cycle. By the fifth ratings update, Knueppel had climbed to 85 OVR, making him a legitimate rotation piece worth targeting in MyNBA franchise modes, particularly for teams that need a wing who can create and shoot. Tidjane Salaun also picked up a three-point boost to 75 OVR as his efficiency improved, putting him in a usable range for deep bench experimentation.

For Play Now Online, the LaMelo jump is the clearest roster signal from this update. At 87, he was just inside the upper tier but easily outmatched by the 89-and-above guards dominating that matchup bracket. At 88, with that playmaking badge stack, he becomes a priority target for anyone building a Hornets-based squad or hunting an undersized guard who can run offense at an elite level. His perimeter defense still has limitations baked into the build, so he is best hidden on weaker opposing guards or used in switch-friendly schemes rather than exposed on primary ball-handlers.

The broader debate this update sparked, as it does every time 2K closes the books on a regular season, is which performers got overlooked entirely. Fan and team account reactions ranged from satisfaction over long-overdue corrections to loud arguments about players who finished the year far above their final number. That noise will carry into the offseason roster conversations, and into however 2K sets the baseline when NBA 2K27 eventually drops its first ratings reveal.