Deep in the doldrums of the NBA calendar, after the excitement of Summer League and free agency simmers down, and before players start reporting for camp, basketball junkies find solace in the rollout of a new NBA 2K installation. And if you're a fan of the Milwaukee Bucks, playing with your favorite team is going to feel way different from the last dozen years of gaming.
But with NBA 2K27 newly released, we're getting an early look at what your new-look Bucks might look like heading into the 2026-27 NBA season, and whether it's surprising or not, the ratings for Milwaukee's lineup are pretty underwhelming compared with what we saw from this team last year.
Maybe I’m too far into the weeds, but I think 2K27 might be underrating this Milwaukee Bucks roster… pic.twitter.com/PlbChjzy7g
— Dylan Hunter Carter (@DylanHCarter) September 5, 2026
According to 2K's opening day rosters, the team only has two players who qualify for an 80+ overall in Tyler Herro and Ryan Rollins. While Herro's 85 rating feels like a solid starting range, so many of the young Bucks are flying under the radar. Only giving Ryan Rollins an 80 overall with a B grade in perimeter defense feels like a huge miss for one of the most exciting young players in basketball.
But that's just scratching the surface of the gripes I'd have with these ratings, because the Bucks are better than 2K or most of the basketball world realizes, and they'll have to come to grips with that when Milwaukee finally gets back on the hardwood in October.
NBA 2K27's ratings for the Milwaukee Bucks roster prove once again how underrated this team has become to start the post-Giannis era.
Even when they had an international superstar and champion, the Milwaukee Bucks were overlooked. But now that Giannis is in Miami, it's like the basketball world has forgotten Milwaukee exists again, so it's up to the team to force everyone to recognize them on the court in the 2026-27 NBA season.
Let's start with the ratings that feel fair — Kel'el Ware and Kevin Porter Jr. each at a 79. There's still plenty of room for them each to grow, while bringing unique skill sets to the table that fairly represent what they've accomplished to this point. I'd also argue that Kyle Kuzma being a 77 makes sense, even if he's a little bit underrated, because of his unsteady on-court impact.
However, there are arguments to be made about every player after that. While 2K's ratings are colored by a tough introductory season for Myles Turner with the Bucks, he should easily still be in the 80-81 range for his immense talent and ability to anchor a team. The same could be said of Jaime Jaquez Jr., whose versatile skill set warrants something closer to an 80-81 rating instead of the 78 they gave him.
It's no surprise at all that the Bucks' young, homegrown talent is being overlooked. How AJ Green is only a 74 overall rating is shocking, with only a C+ rating in perimeter defense for one of the most underrated 3-and-D players in basketball. And with what we saw from Ousmane Dieng after joining the Bucks, he should clearly be closer to a 79 or 80 than the 76 rating they gave him.
Rookie Brayden Burries' summer is being completely ignored with his 73 rating. Even 75 would be low for him given what we've seen, but he's closer to a 78-80 based on what we've learned about him since the draft. Even Cormac Ryan, the Bucks' two-way sharpshooter, is only a 70 overall, even though he proved he's far better than that during his late-season explosion.
The point is, 2K is treating the Bucks like a second-rate, low-tier team when, in actuality, they're a legitimate Play-In contender, and while they lack the high-end star to put them over the top, the collection of talent is far greater than what the game's rating system or what the NBA fandom at large believes.
So it's up to these young Bucks to go out and prove it to earn the 2K ratings they probably already deserve.
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