Basketball season is here: Here are the 10 best NBA players, according to the 'NBA 2K19' video game

LeBron James - NBA 2K19

With the start of the new year we're close to the halfway point of the 2018-19 NBA season, and the league's best players are reaching their peak as the all-star break approaches.

Every year, fans vote for their favorite players to participate in All-Star Weekend, but the voting process is a better judge of popularity than actual skill. So where can NBA faithfuls find more objective ratings of the league's top talent? In video games; "NBA 2K19" is the world's most meticulously-crafted basketball simulation and uses statistics to adjust ratings for more than 350 NBA players throughout the season.

Basketball fans and players alike have always had a strong response to the 2K ratings, which take player tendencies, consistency, and overall efficiency into account to come up with a final number. Players are given an overall rating on a 0-100 scale based on 30 different attributes. During the season the ratings are regularly adjusted to match the real-life performance of the players, to keep it as close to real life as possible.

Our Australian cover athlete @BenSimmons25 wasn't thrilled with his 87 rating in #NBA2K19 Watch his reaction to finding out 😂 pic.twitter.com/cORpPP5yOp
— NBA 2K19 (@NBA2K) July 20, 2018

2k rating is disrespectful. Y’all will learn though 💪🏽👊🏽
— kuz (@kylekuzma) July 20, 2018

While the players at the top of the overall rankings are household names, things start to get a bit more unpredictable as the list goes on. Without further ado, here are the 10 best players in the NBA right now, according to "NBA 2K19."

10) Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers - 92 Overall

After making the All-NBA 1st Team in 2018, the former Rookie of the Year looks to be in peak form this season. Portland is once again in the center of the Western Conference playoff hunt and Lillard is leading the team in scoring, assists, and minutes played per game.

Prior to the start of the season, the Lakers were rumored to be exploring trades to pair Lillard with LeBron James in Los Angeles. Lillard is originally from Oakland, but signed with the Trail Blazers through the 2020-21 season.

9) Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder - 92 Overall

Russell Westbrook followed up his MVP 2016-17 season by averaging a triple-double for the second consecutive year with 25.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 10.3 assists per game. The last player to average a triple-double for the entire season was Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson in 1962.

After exiting the playoffs in the first round the past two seasons, Oklahoma City is one of the leading contenders in the Western Conference as the all-star break approaches.

8) Kyrie Irving, Boston Celtics - 92 Overall

Despite missing most of the 2017-18 season due to an injury, Irving remains one of the most explosive offensive players in the NBA and returned to a Celtics team that reached the East Conference Finals without his help. While the star has struggled to stay healthy over the course of the last three years, he has shown that he has what it takes to push a team into championship territory.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider