Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James
Sep 26, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) does an interview at Cleveland Clinic Courtsduring media day during media day at Cleveland Clinic Courts. Reuters

The NBA 2K franchise will be releasing its next instalment, the NBA 2K15 on Oct. 7, 2014 but the NBA player ratings have already made available even online for the highly-anticipated basketball console game.

Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder is this year’s game’s cover athlete and is rated a 95— 2nd best overall next to LeBron James, who was reacquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2014 offseason.

Nicknamed “King James”, LeBron is no doubt the best player in the league today and his rating of 98 is a reflection of his status in the NBA.

There are a few surprises— and a few glaring omissions— in the latest player rankings. There are only four players with a player rating of above 90; along with James and Durant, there is Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers with 91 and Tim Duncan of the defending champions San Antonio Spurs with 90.

A bunch of NBA stars are near among the cream of the crop with a rating of 89; Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers); Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks); Paul George (Indiana Pacers); Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers); and Blake Griffin (Los Angeles Clippers).

Here’s the rundown of the top five players and their ratings and respective teams:

NBA 2K15 Player Ratings - Top 5 In Each Position

Point Guards: Chris Paul (91), Los Angeles Clippers; Stephen Curry (89), Golden State Warriors; Russell Westbrook (88), Oklahoma City Thunder; Tony Parker (88), San Antonio Spurs; and Derrick Rose (88), Chicago Bulls.

Shooting Guards: Kobe Bryant (89), Los Angeles Lakers; James Harden (88), Houston Rockets; Dwyane Wade (86), Miami Heat; DeMar DeRozan (85), Toronto Raptors; and Lance Stephenson (84), Charlotte Hornets

Small Forwards: LeBron James (98), Cleveland Cavaliers; Kevin Durant (95), Oklahoma City Thunder; Carmelo Anthony (89), New York Knicks; Paul George (89), Indiana Pacers; and Kawhi Leonard (85), San Antonio Spurs.

Power Forwards: Tim Duncan (90), San Antonio Spurs; Kevin Love (89), Cleveland Cavaliers; Blake Griffin (89), Los Angeles Clippers; Anthony Davis (88), New Orleans Pelicans; Dirk Nowitzki (88), Dallas Mavericks and LaMarcus Aldridge (88), Portland Trail Blazers (tied at the fifth position).

Centers: Dwight Howard (88), Houston Rockets; Joakim Noah (87), Chicago Bulls; Al Jefferson (87), Charlotte Bobcats; DeMarcus Cousins (86), Sacramento Kings; and Marc Gasol (85), Memphis Grizzlies.

Not far behind are notable players like PGs Kyrie Irving (86) of the Cavaliers; John Wall (86) of the Washington Wizards and Goran Dragic (84) of the Phoenix Suns; SGs Monta Ellis (82) of the Mavericks and Klay Thompson (82) of the Warriors; SFs Rudy Gay (82) of the Raptors and Paul Pierce (81) of the Wizards; PFs Paul Millsap (85) of the Atlanta Hawks and Pau Gasol (82) of the Bulls; and Cs Chris Bosh (84) of the Heat and Roy Hibbert (81) of the Pacers.

Full rankings can be found at NBA 2K15’s official Facebook page.

New features in this version of the 2K NBA games are Face-Scanning, where players can scan their own faces and have a realistic image of themselves in-game; MyCareer, seen in previous NBA 2K games but with a new storyline and improved role-playing feature; MyPark, un upgraded version of previous instalments for the games’ co-operative online playing.

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