Nov 17, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome (2) drives to the basket between Charlotte Hornets forward Brandon Miller (24) and guard LaMelo Ball (1) during the second half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Two Charlotte Hornets land in the top 100 of NBA 2K26's player ratings

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Zach Roberts | Last updated Aug 20, 2025 10:09 AM ET

The Charlotte Hornets have only two players represented in the recently revealed NBA 2K26 top 100 ratings. That shouldn't be too much of a surprise since this is a team without so much as a play-in tournament win since they lost in seven games in the playoffs in 2016.

They won 19 games last year, so the talent wasn't exactly overflowing, which is why just two players landed within the top 100, and they're exactly the two you would expect.

LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller land in NBA 2K26 top 100

Brandon Miller is an 82 overall heading into NBA 2K26, which makes him the 72nd-best player in the game. He's tied with Aaron Gordon, John Collins, Josh Giddey, RJ Barrett, Michael Porter Jr., and Stephon Castle (among others who were lower o n the list than Miller), so he's effectively tied for 66th.

This is down from last year. Miller was the 84th-ranked player in NBA 2K25, so he's up thanks to a higher scoring output in year two in spite of a bunch of missed time. Once he's healthy and playing, it's likely that he may continue to rise.

LaMelo Ball was the Hornets' highest player. This is not a surprise to anyone at all. He earned an 87 overall and was ranked 35th. Like Miller, he was tied with several: Alperen Sengun, Domantas Sabonis, and others, so he's more or less tied for 33rd, which was where he ranked last time.

Ball got a special blurb about his rating from 2K. "Undeniably one of the best players under the age of 25, LaMelo’s creativity with the ball in his hands is worth marveling at every time he laces up. Before his 2024-2025 season was derailed by an injury, the young superstar was averaging 25.2 points, while dishing out 7.4 assists per game, and ranked top five in 3-po inters made per game with 3.8. Despite being only 24 years old, LaMelo’s an experienced player with a unique vision for the game."

Earlier this year, I predicted the overall ratings of the Charlotte Hornets players. Apparently, I was slightly too kind to both Ball and Miller. I predicted Ball would be an 88 and Miller an 83, so 2K landed one off from that for each.