Starting in the 1999-00 season, NBA 2K became a staple of basketball gaming, eventually becoming the most popular game for NBA aficionados.
An important aspect of NBA 2K and something that’s become quite the prestigious honor is finding out which player will be the game’s cover athlete every year.
For the first five editions of the game, from the original NBA 2K through ESPN NBA Basketball (2K4), the cover athlete was Allen Iverson. Then came Ben Wallace, then Shaquille O’Neal, and then multiple other superstars after them.
Kobe Bryant aka Black Mamba leads the way so far with six different covers (2K10, 2K17, and two editions for 2K21 and 2K24), followed by Iverson (2K, 2K1, 2K2, 2K3 and 2K4) and Michael Jordan (2K11, 2K12, 2K16 and two 2K23 editions).
Below is a gallery of every NBA 2K cover in the game’s history.
Jayson Tatum
Jayson Tatum and A’ja Wilson
Vince Carter
A’ja Wilson
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Sabrina Ionescu
Devin Booker
Devin Booker
Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird
J. Cole
Luka Doncic
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Durant
Luka Doncic
Candace Parker
Damian Lillard
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant
Zion Williamson
Anthony Davis
Dwyane Wade
Giannis Antetokounmpo
LeBron James
Ben Simmons
Kyrie Irving
Kyrie Irving
Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille O’Neal
DeMar DeRozan
Paul George
Kobe Bryant
Pau Gasol
Danilo Gallinari
Stephen Curry
Anthony Davis
James Harden
Michael Jordan
Tony Parker
Dennis Schroeder
Marc Gasol and Pau Gasol
Kevin Durant
LeBron James
Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose
Michael Jordan
Magic Johnson
Larry Bird
Michael Jordan
Kobe Bryant
Kevin Garnett
Chris Paul
Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille O’Neal
Ben Wallace
Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson
Allen Iverson
