We may be getting Moments cards over Moments of the Week cards once again. It seems that may be the case because 2K just dropped six new Moments card, with five of them being pink diamonds. They are pink diamond Damian Lillard, pink diamond Kyrie Irving, pink diamond Trae Young, pink diamond Eric Gordon, pink diamond Russell Westbrook and diamond Buddy Hield. It’s a PG extravaganza, so let’s quickly run through these cards.
(As always, I may review these cards in the next day or two, but no guarantees. In the interim, you can get a deeper look at their ratings at 2KMTCentral.)
Pink Diamond Russell Westbrook
Quick Analysis: The issue with this Russell Westbrook card is he has a 70 3-point rating. This is even lower than the 76 on his diamond card. He also has zero HOF defense/rebounding badges, which will hurt. He has gold Clamps but the diamond did as well. The upgrades you’re really getting here are more in the finishing category and that’s where most of his new HOF badges reside. In fact, all thew new HOF badges are there. Even a lot of his attributes are the same, so this is really just a boost in badges.
Pink Diamond Damian Lillard
Quick Analysis: Not much needs to be said about this Damian Lillard. He just received a pink diamond Moments card last week for dropping 60 points, so he gets another one here for dropping 50 points. He gets two new HOF badges in the playmaking department, and some marginal boosts to a couple passing attributes. Otherwise, everything I wrote last week still applies.
Pink Diamond Kyrie Irving
Quick Analysis: Much like with Russell Westbrook, a lot of the upgrades to Kyrie in comparison to his diamond come in the form of HOF badges. A lot of his base ratings are about the same, with the biggest change here being a major boost to mid-range scoring. His athleticism, 3-point shooting and inside scoring are all stagnant, same goes for defending and rebounding. However, Kyrie’s HOF badges are at least more spread out than Westbrook’s. He gets new HOF finishing badges, shooting badges and playmaking badges. He still has zero defensive badges, so he remains a liability on defense (rightfully so, but does hurt his value in the MyTeam world).
Pink Diamond Trae Young
Quick Analysis: When comparing diamond to pink diamond Trae, the biggest changes are a +1 in 3-point shooting, +2 in speed and some marginal defensive improvements. The big change (like with most of these other cards) comes in the form of badges. Trae already had HOF Range Extender, but he adds Quick Draw to the mix now. He also has a bushel of HOF playmaking badges and some HOF finishing badges. However, I grouped him with Kyrie because the same defensive issues apply. He has gold Lightning Reflexes, but otherwise is a liability on defense.
Pink Diamond Eric Gordon
Quick Analysis: This Eric Gordon may be the most well balanced card released — it’s either him, Hield or Dame. He should be a solid playmaker, he has great shooting (but just gold Range Extender and Quick Draw), and he gets gold Clamps, Interceptor, Pick Dodger and Pick Pocket. This is also his first new card of the year, which is big because he started the season as a silver.
Diamond Buddy Hield
Quick Analysis: Hield goes from amethyst to diamond with this upgrade. His outside scoring attributes are stagnant, but he gets a nice bump in speed and finishing. He has some new shooting and finishing HOF badges, but nothing too major. The biggest change is probably that he gets gold Clamps, Off-Ball Pest and Pick Dodger. It turns him from an absolute issue on defense to at least a potential bench option with that alteration. In general, this might be the biggest upgrade to a card if we exclude Eric Gordon — after all, this is Gordon’s first upgrade all season.
