Power ranking each NBA team by their 2-on-2 NBA Jam pairings

26. New York Knicks: Julius Randle and R.J. Barrett

The Knicks’ best player, Julius Randle, made for an easy selection, but his running mate was a little tougher to choose. New York’s dearth at the guard spot doesn’t help. But Barrett can set the tone  like a pseudo guard, and also is in the ideal size range to avoid getting slaughtered by quick guards or bruising bigs. The framework is there for them to avoid serious matchup issues.

The offense will have to mostly come at the rim; neither one is a superb 3-point shooter. Barrett will have a lot more space than he did with the real-life Knicks though, so that should help him generate offense better.

25. Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young and John Collins

The Hawks don’t have much else to show for right now, so their best two players make sense for this exercise. And offensively they’re a great fit; Young is deadly in space, as is the hyper-athlete he can throw lobs to in Collins. They’ll have no problem generating points.

The problem will come on defense, an aspect that no Hawk performed well in this season. Young was not solely to blame for his oft-maligned defense, but few 6-foot-1 guards are good at it. Collins just has to hope his opponent isn’t a bruising big.