Player Review

Zach LaVine

Zach LaVine pinkdiamond card
95 Overall
  • 85 INS
  • 91 OUT
  • 80 PLY
  • 90 ATH
  • 78 DEF
  • 50 REB

Lavine still CHEESY, Top 10!!!

Written by Nba2kGod11

☆☆☆☆☆

It has been over 2 weeks since this PD Zach Lavine card came out, and in the most recent content drop for the start of Season 4 we have seen some out-of-this-world level cards come into the game. However, this man right here is still a top 10 card in the game without a doubt in my eyes. His animations offensively are simply put next level. This card is the definition of unstoppable for me.

Bought for: Copped him with Gold Intimidator and Bronze Deadeye for around 320k if I'm not mistaken a while ago. His price now fluctuates near the 200-250k mark.

Strengths:

  • Lavine has straight up unbelievable shooting. First of all, he has the best release I've ever used in 2k21 so far and it's not even close. It's basically Tmac's jumper but even smoother. Very easy to time and the green window feels huge. It doesn't take long to start hitting everything with him; I greened about as close to everything as I ever have with him at first. Shooting badges go absolutely crazy as well, he's not missing anything of the slightest important except Deadeye which you can apply. HOF Clutch Shooter is very underrated, it has a huge effect in TTO. With that silky release you can expect HOF Green Machine to kick in a lot too. If you use him as your primary ball handler in TTO the HOF Tireless and Volume Shooter can be very nice. Gold Flexible really helps him hit a ton of whites, along with that 90 3pt. Perhaps most importantly Lavine even comes with Gold Range Extender, which definitely makes 3-hunting a lot easier and shooting from deep in general. You don't have to worry about 2k accidentally spotting him up at near halfcourt in TTO because he can even knock those down, it is ridiculous. Other badges worth mentioning include Gold Catch-and-Shoot, Corner Specialist, and Silver Hot-Zone Hunter with hot zones everywhere outside the 3-point line! Obviously his sharpshooting capabilities are already displayed on paper but when you actually use the card that release is just too butter and takes Lavine to a whole other level.

  • It doesn't look like he has a lot of playmaking badges but trust me it doesn't matter at all. Honestly feels way faster than 87 speed w/ball too. Freaking HOF Quick First Step with Pro 8 tween(best in the game in my opinion) and Pro 6 BtB?!? He's just overpowered going to the basket. That alone makes him a beyond elite slasher, and he has Gold Downhill which I find really handy on the break as well. And did I forget to mention he has the cheesy Curry slide too? Though I personally don't use it much it takes his 3-hunting ability to a whole other level and helps with slashing for me as well.

  • That 97 driving dunk with pretty much perfect tendencies is pure cheese, especially with how easily he gets to the rim. Dunk animations are just different man, I've caught a lot of bodies with this card. Throws it down on whoever's in his path. Lavine's ability to get countless showtime dunks with HOF Showtime is really helpful too. Once because Lavine did his thing with the crazy dunking I made like 2 3s with another card I was using and he immediately got sharpshooting takeover which was insane. HOF Contact Finisher is obviously really cool as well but I think HOF Relentless is another underrated badge that pops up a lot in games that no one really talks about. Lavine also comes with Gold Giant Slayer, Pro Touch, Slithery, what else do I need to say he finishes beautifully in any circumstances.

  • Clearly he's got Gold Clamps, Pick-Pocket, and HOF Pogo with decent lateral quickness of 85, this gets the job done on the defensive end for me. One thing that I don't think many people mention is that he somehow gets so many blocks for some reason. A lot of them are chase-down blocks from behind so I'm assuming Gold Chase-Down Artist on him really does do something. It's like an Opal Wade situation, this really improves him on defense. Is he your Walt Frazier-type defensive specialist? No, but he can still guard people and it's not his main job on the floor.

Weaknesses:

  • I haven't really noticed any weaknesses on this card yet. Missing some important badges like Deadeye, Handles 4 Days, Interceptor, Intimidator, Unpluckable, and maybe a few more but those can all be added.

  • Defensive tendencies are just not it

  • Apart from that the only other minor thing I can say is while his release is 100% the best in the game for me at times it isn't the most consistent, but that happened with GOAT Tmac for me last year as well. Besides he makes up with it with spurts of greening everything so overall this isn't a weakness.

Recommended Strategy: Do anything you want with him whether it's shooting or slashing Lavine can do everything.

Other Comments: Deserves all the hype.

Use if: You want arguably the best SG in the game besides Opal Jimmy.

Don't use if: You don't have the MT.

Bottom Line: I would rank him in the top 10 every day, simply incredible.

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