2K Goes with Point Guard for Cover Athlete on NBA 2K26

So now that everyone knows that NBA 2K26 is officially happening, the first bit of news is the cover athlete. Many have predicted who this would be, and there were about three that it could have come down to. The longest straw came down to winning the NBA World Championship. Oklahoma City Thunder Point Guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be featured on the cover of the Standard Edition of NBA 2K26. He lead his team to its first ever NBA World Championship just a few weeks ago beating out the Indiana Pacers and their star player Tyrese Haliburton, who went down with an injury during the NBA Finals.

List of Career Accolimpishments

Leading the Oklahoma City Thunder, a small market team that was once the Seattle Supersonics, to a championship is reason enough to crown Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Point Guard has accolades including the 2024-25 KIA Most Valuable Player, 2024-25 NBA Scoring Champ and the NBA Finals MVP. He can now add NBA 2K cover athlete has he joins the likes of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant along with more recent stars including Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t the first Oklahoma City Thunder player to grace the cover. Old heads may remember that Kevin Durant started for this franchise for years before bouncing around for trophies. Kevin Durant was on the cover of both NBA 2K13 and NBA 2K15 in a Thunder uniform. The latest was able to accomplish what Durant could never accomplish in OKC, though: win a Championship.

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More About Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Shai won the NBA scoring title last year averaging 32.7 points a game. By the way, he just signed a new five-year supermax contract extension with OKC, so he’s going nowhere. He’s a three-time NBA All-Star and a three-time All-NBA First Team member. He is only 26 years old. He joins a growing list of young superstars including Nikola Jokić, Jalen Williams, Anthony Edwards and the aforementioned Jayson Tatum.

Once again, multiple covers will be available for NBA 2K26, as in the past there have been various versions. Those details will release later this week. 2K has not officially announced the release date, but the game typically releases in early September well ahead of the NBA season. The picture on the actual cover puts Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the court with no-named defenders around him that are out of focus showing he’s truly in a league of his own.