Tag Archives: Cover

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at the EA Sports cover players that can be found in NBA Live 16.

Did you know that every single NBA 2K cover player is available to play with in NBA 2K24? Between the cover players that are still active and the game’s array of classic and All-Time teams, they’re all accounted for. Obviously, we haven’t had a new NBA Live since 2018, but even then, NBA Live 19 didn’t include every cover player in the history of the series. On top of that, a couple of the cover players that were included in NBA Live 19 were nevertheless retired, and thus exclusive to the collection of Legends in Ultimate Team.

If we want to find the last NBA Live game that featured a healthy selection of players who appeared on the cover of EA Sports’ long-running basketball sim series, we must go back a few years to NBA Live 16. In fact, not only does NBA Live 16 feature a number of NBA Live cover players, but also players who graced the covers of EA Sports’ college basketball titles. And so, I thought it might be fun to spotlight those cover players who are readily accessible in NBA Live 16, wearing EA Sports jerseys in the game’s practice mode. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some assorted cover player trivia.

I’m sure that it’s apparent from my various features, as well as comments I’ve made on the NLSC Podcast, that I really enjoy trivia about my passions. I love discovering new “fun facts” about my favourite hobbies and interests, and of course, discussing them in the content that I create. Of course, the downside of being passionate about trivia is that it’s easy to come off as a know-it-all, or a bore. Still, I imagine that if you’re here to consume content about basketball video games, you enjoy these facts as well! It’s always my aim to share something that hopefully not everyone will know.

So, cover player trivia. It seems only appropriate, since in the grand scheme of things, there aren’t too many aspects of basketball video games that are as trivial as the cover player! The face of the game doesn’t necessarily indicate its quality, and there have been some out-of-the-box choices on the front of the box throughout the years. It’s still a point of interest, of course. We admire creative cover art, and while it doesn’t (or shouldn’t) impact our enjoyment of a game, we also appreciate a worthy cover player. With so many basketball games and a multitude of players appearing on their covers, there’s some interesting trivia we can dive into as we tip off another week.

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Pre-orders for NBA 2K24 are now open, and the pre-order bonuses have subsequently been revealed. As usual, they consist of VC, MT, MyTEAM packs and cards, boosts for MyCAREER, and MyPLAYER gear. All of the pre-order bonuses for each edition of NBA 2K24 can be found below.

Speaking of editions, two more have been announced, and their covers revealed. There will be a 25th Anniversary Edition of NBA 2K24, with a cover featuring a custom championship ring. It’s the premium edition of NBA 2K24, and once again includes a one-year NBA League Pass subscription, as well as additional bonuses if you pre-order by July 25th. This year’s WNBA edition features Sabrina Ionescu on its cover, and is once again exclusive to GameStop and North America. A first look screenshot of Ionescu has also been posted.

Following up on the leak from the 2K Intel account, crossplay has also officially been announced. It is a Next Gen/New Gen exclusive however, but it does mean that PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S gamers will finally be able to meet up in cooperative and competitive play in NBA 2K24. A trailer touting crossplay has also been posted, which you can check out below along with the latest covers, Sabrina Ionescu screenshot, and details on the NBA 2K24 pre-order bonuses.

Got any thoughts? Feel free to share them in the comments below, as well as join in the discussion in our NBA 2K24 Forum!

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Another preview season is officially underway, and usual, it begins with a cover reveal! 2K has revealed that there will be two Kobe Bryant covers for NBA 2K24: one for the Kobe Bryant Edition, and one for the Black Mamba Edition.

Although further details are yet to be revealed, it seems safe to assume that the Black Mamba Edition is this year’s premium edition of the game. Pre-orders will open tomorrow, so it’s possible that we’ll get some preliminary info about the bonuses at that time.

Judging by recent years, we probably won’t get a ton of details about NBA 2K24 until August. That’s usually when the developer blogs and gameplay trailers drop, with 2K revealing their roadmap for the preview season in late July as part of the hype train. In any case, I’ll be aggregating the news throughout the preview season, and Dee and I will of course discuss the developments on the NLSC Podcast.

In the meantime, you can check out both NBA 2K24 covers featuring Kobe Bryant below. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion here in the Forum! Please note that I’ve added a page for NBA 2K24 in our Wiki; as always, I invite you to add information as it’s confirmed. I’ll also be launching a portal for the game here on the main site soon, so stay tuned.

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Next up in the final rush of NBA 2K23 news is this year’s MyCAREER trailer! According to the trailer, the MyPLAYER character will once again be named “MP”, with this year’s story beginning after the 2022 NBA Draft. From there, the tale will revolve around MP’s off-court brand and projects, and trying to balance them with making it in the NBA.

Additionally, 2K has revealed another NBA 2K23 cover, featuring rapper J. Cole as the face of the “Dreamer Edition”. This cover, much like the WNBA cover featuring Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi, will be exclusive to GameStop in the United States and Canada.

J. Cole will also be a character in the NBA 2K23 MyCAREER story, as revealed by the trailer. As usual, current and former NBA players have voiced cameos, and it appears that Kendrick Perkins will once again appear in a somewhat antagonistic role. Fellow player turned analyst J.J. Redick also joins Perkins in commenting on MP’s journey.

Check out the trailer below, along with the Dreamer Edition cover art. What are your thoughts on the latest news? Sound off in the comments, and join in the discussion here in the NLSC Forum!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #434 of the NLSC Podcast!

How much would you pay for a sealed copy of Lakers vs. Celtics? Here’s a hint: it’ll set you back more than the Championship Edition of NBA 2K23! Speaking of which, in the wake of the NBA 2K23 preview season tipping off, we discuss the cover reveals, pre-order bonuses, and the return of the Jordan Challenge. With the news that the PC version will be Current Gen once again, we consider the possible reasons for the decision, and the future of the series on the platform. We also talk about some interesting NBA Live rumours, and the underrated NBA Inside Drive series. In this week’s mailbag, the community reacts to the news about NBA 2K23 PC, and suggests new games for the Jordan Challenge.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:43:36 — 71.5MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

Shams Charania leaked it last week, but 2K have now officially announced that Devin Booker is the cover player for the standard edition of NBA 2K23. If you’ve missed the previous announcements, the special and championship editions feature Michael Jordan/his signed jersey on the cover, while the WNBA edition cover players are Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi.

As with the previous announcements, 2K has posted a teaser trailer featuring Devin Booker, as well as a first look screenshot and behind-the-scenes video of the cover shoot. You can check them out below, along with the full cover art.

NBA 2K23 is now available to pre-order, and will be released on September 9th, 2022. The pre-order bonuses have been revealed, and include the usual assortment of VC, MT, MyTEAM cards, and cosmetic items. Notably, as originally reported by IGN, the Championship Edition also includes a year’s subscription to NBA League Pass. Special editions include the same pre-order bonuses as the standard edition, in addition to their own bonuses.

Further information on the different editions and their pre-order bonuses can be found below. What are your thoughts on this year’s bonuses, and Devin Booker being one of the NBA 2K23 cover players? Have your say in the comments, and join in the discussion here in the Forum!

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Following the reveal of the Michael Jordan Edition of NBA 2K23, 2K has announced the cover players of the WNBA Edition: Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm, and Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury.

As with last year’s WNBA Edition featuring Candace Parker on the cover, it will be a GameStop exclusive in the United States and Canada. All editions of NBA 2K23 will feature WNBA content, though it remains to be seen if the Current Gen/PC version has any of the WNBA modes that were introduced on Next Gen.

To celebrate their WNBA cover players’ commitment to equal opportunities for all athletes, 2K will also be donating $100,000 to Every Kid Sports. The donation will help increase access to youth basketball programs for over 550 girls from income-restricted families.

In addition to the cover art for the WNBA Edition of NBA 2K23, 2K has released in-game screenshots of Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. You can check those out below, along with a teaser trailer. Further announcements, including the likely official reveal of Devin Booker as the standard edition cover player, will be coming soon. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, as well as join in the discussion in our NBA 2K23 Forum!

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From courtside of the virtual hardwood, it’s Episode #433 of the NLSC Podcast!

The official Electronic Arts and WWE Games Twitter accounts made bewildering gaffes this past week, and like many of our fellow gamers, we’re unimpressed. Obsidian, meanwhile, displayed an attitude that we’d like to see more often. Elsewhere, NBA insider Shams Charania apparently leaked the NBA 2K23 cover player, and we have some thoughts on 2K’s choice. Since the NBA 2K23 preview season is almost upon us, we also reflect on NBA 2K22, summing up our final thoughts on the game, and giving it a rating out of ten. After reminiscing about a satisfying session of NBA Jam: On Fire Edition, we open up the mailbag to discuss who should be the five best-rated players in NBA 2K23.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:30:06 — 62.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

To get involved with the mailbag or to provide any feedback on the show, hit us up in the comments, reach out on social media, or post here in the NLSC Forum! For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. You can also find the show on our YouTube channel, along with the rest of our video content. As always, thanks for tuning in, and go get buckets!

The NBA 2K23 preview season is right around the corner, which means we’re beginning to receive teasers from the official NBA 2K Twitter account. However, as I noted yesterday, it appears that NBA insider Shams Charania decided to leak the identity of the NBA 2K23 cover player: Devin Booker.

In a Tweet reporting Booker’s four-year, $214 million supermax extension, Charania casually threw out that per his sources, the Suns’ All-Star guard will be gracing the cover of NBA 2K23. This potential NBA 2K23 cover player leak hasn’t yet been addressed by 2K, and Charania’s original Tweet remains up as of this post.

While such scoops are obviously common in professional sports, video game publishers are generally quite particular when it comes to revealing details about forthcoming releases. With that in mind, this could be merely a rumour, or 2K may have approved a “leak”. It’s also worth noting that 2K’s teaser Tweet mentions cover players (plural), suggesting there are more than one. This wouldn’t be surprising of course, as 2K has previously featured additional cover players for its special and international editions.

For the moment, the NBA 2K23 cover player remains unconfirmed, though I’m guessing we’ll have an official announcement soon. However, Shams Charania isn’t just some random person wildly speculating on social media, so it’s quite likely that Devin Booker is indeed one of the featured players this year. What are your thoughts on Booker possibly being the next NBA 2K cover player? Have your say in the comments below, as well as here in our Forum!

Welcome to another edition of The Friday Five! Every Friday I cover a topic related to basketball gaming, either as a list of five items, or a Top 5 countdown. The topics for these lists and countdowns include everything from fun facts and recollections to commentary and critique. This week’s Five is a list of five cover players that won NBA titles in the same season their game came out.

Last week, I listed five players who graced video game covers in the same year that they made the NBA Finals. More specifically, I was referring to players who made the Finals, but were ultimately the runners-up. Obviously, cover players who won titles while being the face of a game technically qualify as examples for last week’s list as well. However, I did want to draw a distinction between the cover players who “only” made it to the Finals that same year, and those who actually won titles. While both are accomplishments and interesting trivia, the latter is naturally rather more special.

To that end, the number of cover players that won titles in the same year is smaller than the already select group of names who made the Finals while being the face of NBA Live, NBA 2K, or another title. As I noted last week, publishers like EA and 2K are no doubt more interested in a player’s popularity and marketability than whether they’ll be in the Finals, or NBA Champions. I have no doubt that they’re happy when it does occur, but given that it’s a gamble even if they ink a deal with a player from a contender, it’s a bonus boost to the brand at the end of the day. NBA Champion cover players are something that a handful of titles can boast however, including these five.

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Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is yet another list of five cover players that you may not recall.

Yes, we’ve made it to Part 3 in this series! There have been a lot of NBA video games over the years, which has resulted in a number of different cover players. Obviously, some of the greats have appeared on the covers of multiple series, or multiple games within a series. Over the years, publishers have been able to sign the NBA’s biggest names to promote their brand of virtual basketball, especially with gaming increasing in popularity, and players who grew up playing video games subsequently entering the league. Regardless, not all cover players have been superstars.

While these names may not be obscure or forgotten – again, some of them were very prominent names in their day – one may not recall that they were cover players at one point. Video game series come and go, with some games being far more popular and successful than others. In some cases, you might remember the game, but – contrary to Fort Minor’s famous song – you might not remember the name. And of course, there are regional covers that aren’t as well-known, some of which have become appealing collectibles for anyone into that sort of thing (not mentioning any names here). With that being said, let’s refresh our memories about these five former cover players.

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This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! In this feature, we dig into the archives, look back at the history of basketball gaming, and indulge in some nostalgia. Check in every Wednesday for retrospectives and other features on older versions of NBA Live, NBA 2K, and old school basketball video games in general. You’ll also find old NLSC editorials re-published with added commentary, and other flashback content. This week, I’m taking a look back at Michael Jordan and his time with the Washington Wizards, as well as its impact on video games.

For those keeping track, it was twenty years ago this Saturday that Michael Jordan announced that he was coming out of retirement to play for the Washington Wizards. Although it’s a chapter in his career that many people gloss over, MJ’s Wizards years did have their bright moments. His second comeback and third NBA stint overall also had an obvious effect on basketball video games, especially given his history on the virtual hardwood throughout most of the 90s. In that regard, it actually had more of an impact than when he said “I’m Back” almost 27 years ago!

As a Michael Jordan fan and avid basketball gamer who had just taken over running the NLSC, his comeback with the Wizards stands out quite vividly in my memory. Given that it’s the 20th Anniversary of a comeback that saw His Airness become a familiar face in a strange place, I felt that it would only be appropriate to reflect on both the real event, and how it affected basketball games. Let’s take a look back…way back…

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Episode #384 of the NLSC Podcast is out now! Derek (aka Dee4Three) and I are your hosts for this weekly podcast that’s all about basketball gaming.

The cover players, release date, and pre-order bonuses for NBA 2K22 have been revealed, confirming leaks and speculation, and drawing some boorish comments about one player in particular. Unfortunately, the PC version will be a prior gen port once again this year, and we have some thoughts to share on that. Despite the remarks of one wannabe content creator, PC gamers have a right to be dismayed…and to play NBA 2K, for that matter. The lack of a demo on all platforms is likewise disappointing. Elsewhere, a Tweet mentioning a partnership between LeBron James and EA has people talking, though we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves (again). We also touch on Steam Deck, and some listener responses to last week’s mailbag topics.

Download or play on your mobile device/tablet: CLICK HERE (Running time: 1:15:29 — 52.2MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Join in the conversation in the comments below, or here in the Forum! Additionally, feel free to hit us up with any feedback on the episode, as well as mailbag questions and topic suggestions for future shows. For more information on the NLSC Podcast including episode guides, check out this page in our Wiki. The show also comes out on our YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe for future episodes and other video content.

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown. This week’s Five is another list of cover players that you may not recall being the face of a game.

In my first Friday Five article on cover players that you may not recall, I focused on international/alternate covers that likely flew under the radar for even the keenest of hoops gamers. For Part 2, I’m focusing on players who were the main/only cover athlete for their respective titles, but due to either their standing in the league at the time, their game being somewhat overlooked and forgotten, or a combination of the two, they’re less likely to be remembered for being cover players at one point. That’s not to say nobody recalls their appearances on covers, but it’s easy enough to forget.

Looking back, there have been some unusual and surprising cover players. There are explanations, of course. As basketball games have become more popular, the choice of cover player has become more significant, if only as an indication of the strength of the brand. Younger players who grew up with video games naturally tend to be more excited about endorsing them, likely viewing them the same way older players looked upon appearing on a Wheaties box or the cover of Sports Illustrated. On top of that, when there were more NBA games on the market, not every title could secure a top star. With that being said, here are five more cover players that may surprise you.

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