Jay Huff’s place on the NBA 2K27 shot blocker list says a lot about how far his game has come. The Indiana Pacers center landed at No. 3 with a 96, putting him in the same tier as Chet Holmgren and behind only two players in the category: Victor Wembanyama at 99 and Alex Sarr at 97.
That ranking lines up neatly with what Huff did on the floor last season. He blocked 153 shots, second in the NBA behind Wembanyama’s 197, and he needed 18 more games than Wembanyama to get there. On a per-36-minute basis, Huff averaged 3.2 blocks, a mark topped only by Wembanyama.
Huff also gave Indiana a rare ironman season. He played all 82 games and made 47 starts, making him one of just 18 players in the league to appear in every game.
In 21 minutes per night, he put up 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while adding 1.9 blocks. He shot 47.6% from the field, 31.9% from deep, and 82.8% from the line.
The rest of the 2K27 shot blocker list is packed with familiar rim protectors. Donovan Clingan comes next at 95, followed by Zach Edey, Evan Mobley, and Rudy Gobert at 94, then Walker Kessler and Yves Missi at 93.
Indiana’s bet on Huff came after a busy offseason shift at center. The Pacers got him from the Memphis Grizzlies on July 5, 2025, sending out a second-round pick and a second-round pick swap. Four days earlier, Myles Turner had signed a four-year, $108.9 million deal with Milwaukee.
Huff’s production in Memphis helped set up the move. In 2024-25, he played 64 games and averaged 6.9 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks in 11.7 minutes per game, while shooting 41% from three. He finished that regular season on a high note, going 9-of-12 from the field for 22 points in a 132-97 win over Dallas, and adding 6 rebounds and 6 blocks.
His path to this point has been a long one. Huff went undrafted out of Virginia in 2021, then spent the next three seasons moving through the Los Angeles Lakers, Washington, and Denver before signing with Memphis in July 2024.
He won G League Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 and led that league in blocks. Indiana is his fifth NBA team.
His playing time kept climbing year by year: four games, then seven, then 20, then 64, and finally all 82 last season.
Memphis rewarded that rise with a four-year contract worth up to $10.11 million in October 2024. The first two seasons were fully guaranteed, while the guarantees on the back end depended on Huff reaching a playing-time threshold, which he did by getting into 64 games in 2024-25. He is guaranteed $2.66 million in 2026-27, and the final year in Indiana is a team option worth $3 million, with a decision due by June 30, 2027.
Indiana’s bigger picture last season was grim. The Pacers went 19-63 without Tyrese Haliburton, who missed the year after tearing his right Achilles tendon seven minutes into Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.
Rick Carlisle ended up using 27 players. Andrew Nembhard started 57 games and averaged 16.9 points, while Pascal Siakam posted 24.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists and earned his fourth All-Star nod.
The Pacers also made a deadline move for Ivica Zubac in a deal that sent Bennedict Mathurin to the Los Angeles Clippers. Zubac played five games before a season-ending injury, and Indiana also gave up the pick that became fifth overall in that trade.
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The optimism around his return is easy to understand, especially with his father publicly upbeat about what the Pacers can become once he is back in the mix. The bigger question for Indiana is how quickly Haliburton can get back to the level that made him such a central figure in the teams plans, and whether the Pacers can turn that anticipation into something more than just a hopeful reset. [Read more 🡒]