Former Duke basketball star Jayson Tatum selected as NBA 2K25 cover athlete

After winning his first NBA championship with the Boston Celtics, Jayson Tatum will become the face of basketball’s biggest video game.

The summer of [autotag]Jayson Tatum[/autotag] continued on Wednesday morning.

After he earned this third consecutive All-NBA First Team nomination, the former Duke basketball star helped lead the Boston Celtics to an NBA Finals victory over the Dallas Mavericks last month. He’ll play for the United States on the Olympic team in Paris this summer, chasing his second consecutive gold medal, and he’ll get to wear Kobe Bryant’s old Olympic number in the process.

Now, as of Wednesday morning, he’ll also be the face of this year’s edition of basketball’s biggest video game.

NBA 2K announced through social media that Tatum would be the standard cover athlete for NBA 2K25. He will also appear on the cover of the All-Star Edition alongside Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson.

The annual release typically chooses a basketball star who helped define the previous 12 months in the league. After Boston won 64 games this regular season and breezed through the playoffs in 19 games, it’s hard to think of anyone more deserving than Tatum.

Tatum joins Kyrie Irving (NBA 2K18) and Zion Williamson (NBA 2K21 Next Gen Edition) as cover stars from Duke.