The NBA 2K series is gearing up for its next release in NBA 2K24, and both fans of the annual basketball sim and the sport itself are thrilled with today’s news that the late great Kobe Bryant will man the cover of the game’s two special editions.
Kobe will grace the cover of both the “Kobe Bryant” edition and the “Black Mamba” edition, although there’s been no confirmed or leaked image of the base game cover yet. This is his first set of covers since he was the namesake and cover athlete for both versions of the “Mamba Forever” editions of NBA 2K21, which were the first installments of NBA 2K to release after his death in 2020 as a result of a tragic helicopter crash that took the lives of Bryant, his daughter Gigi, and seven other passengers.
According to HoopsHype, Bryant now holds the record for most NBA 2K covers with six: 2K10, 2K17, two for 2K21, and now at least two for 2K24.
The basketball world and the 2K fan base celebrated the covers as a fitting tribute to one of basketball’s biggest icons, just a year after the franchise did the same with two special edition covers for NBA 2K23 that paid tribute to Michael Jordan, who was one of Kobe’s idols and one of his greatest on-court rivals.
The LegionHoops account on Twitter said it was “only right” to have Kobe on the special edition cover. One person on Twitter noted, though, that 2K24 is using a still of Kobe that is remarkably similar to the one used for the cover of NBA Courtside 2002 for the Game Cube. Lots of fans are also celebrating a quote from the ESPN article about the game’s cover, in which Greg Thomas, president at Visual Concepts, says that “crossplay” will be introduced.
Ronnie “2K” Singh, the digital marketing director for 2K and one of the franchise’s most recognizable public figures, said “it only made sense” to honor Kobe after honoring MJ the year prior, showing off some stylized, customized jackets that commemorate both stars. Developer Tim Parham posted that the Visual Concepts team, the developers of the NBA 2K series, have “been working HARD on this” cover and the next installment of the series.
The team at 2K promises to reveal more information about other covers and “other reveals” on Friday, July 7.
